Fever Pitch.

Last night, Ava came down with a fever. I could tell early on in the evening that she just wasn't herself. She wanted to lay in my arms and sleep. She never wants to do that. Normally, she fights sleep. Hard. After her bath, she screamed, cried, and fell asleep.

She woke up in the middle of the night very very warm. Now, which mother doesn't have any fever reducer medicine on hand?



This one!





A little panic set in as I know that if a fever gets to high, it can be detrimental to the health of the baby. My mom came into our bedroom with a old, German remedy of wrapping the calves with cold wash clothes and then wrap up in a bigger towel. Let me tell you, this worked like a charm. Soon after, Ava's body temp went down and she snuggled her face into my chest and just slept. Sigh of relief right here....

She woke up a little cranky but nothing that a nice warm bottle and a nap won't fix. Rest well, my Ava!


As for the holidays? Rafal will have this weekend off. I told him he doesn't have to do anything but relax with me and play with Ava. One weekend a year where he doesn't have anything to do. I think he deserves that much. Christmas day is per usual. Down at my Grandpa's for dinner and gifts.

What is Ava getting this year? Nothing.


Rafal is getting spoiled though. I'm sure he'll share is wrapping paper with his girl.

Memory Lane

Rafal and I first met December of 2008 but as I was not interested in him at that time, let's skip to when I found him delightful... and then let's skip further along to Christmas 2009. Living in Sacramento was always hard during the Holidays. I wanted to come home but work cramped my style and I was only given 2 days off. I had flown home so many times before I had accumulated enough points for a free ticket for Rafal to come with me!

Christmas 2009 Pine Valley

 It was Rafal's first time meeting my family. My sister, Ruby and her children came down and we had a blast. At this time in our lives, we were dating and exploring and enjoying each other. We adopted Gunner in November of 2009 so we already made that commitment. I mean, if you get a dog together that surely means your in it for the long haul, right? ....

Grandpa, Jonanne, Momma, and us.

Moving on to 2010. We moved down to San Diego because... well frankly I was sick of Sacramento. I wanted my mom and my friends. Thankfully, Rafal wanted to come with me. Not that he had a choice. I was going and that was it. Not long after we moved into my mom's house, we found out we were pregnant! Surprise, Mom!

In front of the same tree as 2009. Ava was born one week later!

This year we were engaged and expecting. Rafal just got his job at the machine shop and I was still at Wells Fargo. We were living at my mom's in Pine Valley and trying to save every last penny. It's not easy starting a family with nothing to back us financially. It really is an eye-opening experience and I was so thankful for a man who worked so hard for his pregnant, hormonal fiance. We don't buy each other a lot of presents. Actually, we have never given each other Christmas gifts. It's not something we are about and frankly we just can't afford a lot of 'extra '. However, Rafal suprised me with diamond earrings for our girl. I have yet to get her ear's pierced, but that's another story!



2010

To date, Rafal is renovating a house extremely beautifully for his wife and 11 month old daughter. This is by far our biggest tribulation. I decided to leave Wells Fargo and be a stay at home mom. I'm also in school in the evening which is both fun and tedious. We still don't have a lot of money (or any money) as this house reno is bleeding us dry! (I am not complaining because I have a beautiful master bedroom with new floors, windows, crown molding, and window treatments. Everything is exactly how I pictured it. My husband certainly brought my vision to life!) We are currently in the process of a bath reno AND kitchen reno

simultaneously. Being married has been the most beautiful experience thus far. I love referring to Rafal as my husband. It sounds so serious. We may not have a lot but we have each other. Ava has two parents who are comitted to each other. Isn't that the best gift we could give our child? I think so.

Coming Clean

It has been far too long since I ventured to blogger world. I consider myself a avid blog reader but I am not layout savvy and I get intimidated by all the amazing layouts and I try to hide my blog in a box, in the back of the closet, never to be seen by others. Much like my scrapbook. But I want to practice and get better. So let's begin.

Much of the past six months consist of Rafal working, working overtime, or working on the house. Tedious, I know. But the house is finally coming around. The master bedroom is done. Complete with crown molding, window treatments which I adore, and a rug that we can only describe as 'trippy'. That might have been an impulse buy but I would never admit that to Rafal! The bathroom as been ripped out and the demo of the kitchen has started. I'm so thankful for my husband. I cannot say that enough!

As for our amazing daughter? Well, she turned 11 months old a few days ago. It's bittersweet to say the least. I can clearly remember the day (and the day of labor before) she was born. I am so proud of the sweet spirit that is inside of her and I'm so happy I can watch my child grow and learn but it goes so fast! People ask me what I have planned for her 1st birthday and I promptly say Nothing! Not a thing! Then it's followed with "You must give her a cake and let her eat it!" Nope, we aren't doing that. Why would I give my child copious amounts of sugar. Did you know she eats healthier than I do? I plan to keep it that way. So a cake in front of Ava in her highchair with a birthday cone hat is not happening here. Sorry. That's a photo opp we'll have to miss.

A few days ago, I was eating some Tres Leches birthday cake my mom brought over and Ava was eyeballing like no other. She watched every move as I put the fork to the cake to my mouth. Oh and I saw my mom try to sneak Ava a bit of frosting. Tisk Tisk Oma! So needless to say we tried another feeding! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

She pushed the cereal out of her mouth.

Cry for help to Daddy! But Daddy is the photographer so no help to baby!

Also, here is Ava with her new organic maple teether which she LOVES! She can grip it better than the plastic teether she has and I don't have to worry about plastics. Obviously, this little piece of wood was outrageously expensive but a few pieces here and there won't break the bank.



Food for Baby Thought

The subject of baby food honestly makes me nervous. I want to feed Ava the most natural and organic way possible and I'd like to try to make our own baby food with a processor. I've read articles on tips and how to cook the food and what foods to try first and when and frankly, I feel a bit overwhelmed by it all. But like everything parenting requires, I can only do my best. I wanted to wait until 6 months to try foods since breastmilk is the only nutrition baby actually needs up until that point.

But since Ava has sprouted her first bottom tooth at 4 1/2 months old I thought hmmm maybe this is going to come quicker than I thought. So while in Henry's Market I picked up a box of organic wild brown rice cereal and a pack of baby spoons. I come home (since she is offically teething, I left her home with Rafal much to his dismay) and mix up cereal with breastmilk while Rafal sees how she takes the spoon. She can put her lips around it and smacks. Good sign. When it comes time for cereal, Ava makes the most awful face. She squints her eyes and purses her lips together, pushing out the tiny amount of cereal that actually got into her mouth! A funny sight, I'm sure. Rafal giving her position reinforcements say "Yum, Baby Yum!" A few bites later, we are done.

Consensus is: She's not ready. Which is fine. The last thing I want is to push her to do things she isn't prepared for. Granted she is growing a tooth but that by no means implies she's ready to eat. The best thing I can do is look for cues she gives and start slowly. One food at a time. I do not mind if it takes her 2 more months to accept food. I will wait with her. And in the mean time, I'm going to watch her tooth come in!

First Post!

How exciting! I have enough time on my hands to blog about my life. Well let me be honest and say its not at all interesting but I figure I can document the milestones of Ava's infancy and we all know babies are just so cute.

First let us rewind about 5 months so I can recount the most sacred of times- Ava's Birth Story! Alright, here we go...

I knew about the middle of my pregnancy I wanted to experience a natural birth. Now let me state I would never consider giving birth at home or in a tub, that's just not what I'm about. But I did my research on the subject of childbirth and I came to the conclusion that natural was the best for the baby. So that was the plan. I read countless birthstories online and watch a documentary our Doula gave us and I felt ready. I was due January 13th and around the middle of December I was done. I knew I could not go that long. I couldn't sleep. Since I have scoliosis my back hurt during the night if I slept on my side. Anyone who knows, knows you cannot sleep on your back after about the 5th month due to the blood flow being cut off by the baby laying on a vessel. So I walked (well I tried) and had the membranes swept (much against my mom's wishes as she thought I would go into labor within 2 minutes and "The poor baby isn't ready!" were her words)Finally, on NYE I felt something. Hallelujah! I now call these practice contractions because nothing happened until 3 days later on January 3rd. Monday morning I wanted to go to the hospital. So we went.

The nurse hooked me up to an IV to hydrate me. Within a hour I became sick and started to throw up. I was sick, tired, and since I didn't eat breakfast, hungry. Oh great, this is how it was going to go. So I labored and labored. Our Doula came in with snacks and a bag of goodies that would speed up the process by guiding the baby down and out. Only problem was that I could not muster any strength to get up off the bed. I felt so weak and tired. Thankfully my OBGYN let me labor at my own speed and not push pitocin on me. I cannot recall the time span but this pain felt like it was going on forever and I couldn't get passed 3cm. I begrudgingly walked the hall and took a few showers which momentarily relieved the pain. Once I hit 7cm at 2am I was done. I said "This is a disaster" and OBGYN just laughed at me. I requested my epidural. Yes, I caved. But I am not sorry. After it set in, I could finally relax and enjoy the anticipation of meeting my baby. Around 6ish Tuesday morning, I felt funny and the nurse checked me when she said "Uh oh, hold your legs together, your baby is coming!" As I've said before, Ava just slipped out. No tearing or tugging. I was so thankful. She was here. No complications or stress on her. Rafal on the other hand slipped into what I call a baby coma and disapeared from the world for an hour. Ava was perfect and she latched on for milk within the first 10 minutes of meeting her. My girl.


BabyFace

She was jaundiced and had to stay a extra night on the billibed. This was the worst. I have no baby knowledge and all of it scared me. I just wanted to go home and cuddle her in my own room. Also, I had a spinal headache and was on a high dosage of ibuprophen every 4 hours. I seriously wanted out of there. Thursday afternoon, we went finally home.