The Swearingen Family: Double Digits, the BIG 10!

Last week our baby girl turned 10 months old! She is no longer a baby but turning into such a sweet little girl who loves to play, laugh, and explore. Ava was first ticklish under her chin but now her favorite tickle spot is at her pelvic bone and she is starting to become ticklish under her arms and her feet. For the last couple of months Ava loves to touch everything with her one index finger and she always is touching everything with it. She can find the smallest speck of dirt on the floor and she will use her index finger to push it around.

Ava's new favorite toy is her music play table and it has different settings to keep her entertained. She is fully cruising now on her own while holding onto something and she will crawl over and pull herself up on the table and then cruise around it as she plays with the different activities. She has also started dancing and will smile and shake her body during some of the music numbers. A close second for fav toys is still her walker which is a life saver for Trav and I in the morning while we are trying to get ready. And then there is her jumperoo which is an oldie but goodie and every once in a while she will let us put her in it and she goes crazy jumping in it.

This month at daycare she was poked in the eye by her bestie, Madeline. The teacher said that Ava did cry but Ava did forgive Madeline and they are still good friends. It has been too hot to do too much outside, but the school did have them outside one afternoon to play at the outdoor water table. The teacher showed me a picture and all of the children were so adorable and Ava loved splashing her hands in the water with the other children. We finished out the last week of Ava being 9 months old with a runny nose and cough that kept Ava out of daycare for a week. Luckily she was able to spend the week with Nana getting lots of love and kisses from both Nana and Katie.

Speaking of the Swearingen's family dog, Ava can now make out the word Katie. So she has not said mama but twice but now will happily say Katie along with her favorite word in the world, dadadada.

It has been another busy traveling month for us and we made a trip to Atlanta followed by a trip to Kingsport the following weekend. For the week of the 4th of July, Uncle Christopher, Aunt Emilie, and cousins Joseph and Jacob came in for the week. Joseph loved playing with Baby Ava and thought that it was so much fun to push Ava around the house in her walker. I was told that Joseph also did a stand up comedy act for Ava that had her cackling with laughter throughout the house. We thought that Ava was a little young to enjoy fireworks so we left her at home while we watched them at the Collignon's house but I am looking forward to being able to watch them as a family one day. One the 4th we enjoyed a nice cookout at the Swearingen's and spent the rest of the week visiting with family.

We were able to spend the next two weekends at home and we went to the zoo for the first time and signed up for an annual membership so that we will be able to go over the next year, and many years to come after that. We also made it back to Cheekwood to take her 9 month photo's and finished Ava's 9 months with Trav turning 31 and also making it on the 10 o'clock news! We were out for an evening walk after bath time and was stopped by a reporter asking us to talk about the whooping cough. Ava was in her pj's and Trav and I looked like complete scrubs and did not want to be on the news but I took pity on the reporter who told me he had been looking for 2 hours to interview someone. Trav did not want to be on the news so he stood back as I was interviewed while Ava was squirming and coughing in my arms. I was too embarrassed to watch it but pulled it up online afterwards. It was as bad as I thought that it would be, but Ava looked like a cute little Gerber baby so that is all that matters.

It melts my heart how Ava recognizes who Travis and I are and it is so sweet when she will crawl over to us and put her tiny hands on our legs for us to pick her up. She is also starting to share and sometimes she will be playing with a toy and she will reach over and put it in our face for us to play with. She really loves my iPhone which is not good thing. I have not introduced her to the iPad, but I am sure that most of the apps on the iPad will turn into apps for her to play with. We still have story time every night as a family and will tuck her in together.

I am not sure where the time has gone and I cannot believe that we will be celebrating her 1st Birthday in less than two months. My wish is that she would always stay our little baby girl but even as she grows older, I know that she will always be our baby. To quote one of my favorite children's book, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living my baby you'll be."