Ava oh Ava..

I haven't done one of these detailed posts on Ava since she was 11 months. I normally stop doing monthly updates once the girls reach 1 year and then update here and there. One thing I love about blogging is being able to look back at the past years and remember how the girls were. Treasured memories for sure. 

Weight

She hasn't gone for her 18 month checkup yet (she's 19 months now), so I'm not sure how much she weighs but I'm guessing around 23 to 25 pounds.

Health

She's been really well minus a little cold here and there. Her sister's had gotten the stomach bug around New Years and thankfully she was just fine. I feel really blessed that the girl's don't get sick very often minus common colds or upset stomach's. 

Sleep

Ava has always been a terrible sleeper. She's the worst one out of the four and pretty much drove the nail in the coffin that we don't want another child. I really want to sleep again one day. Her sleep has improved since my last update, but still to this day since she was a newborn, she has only slept through the night 5 times. 5 times! That's it! I weaned her four months ago to see if it would help her sleep. I would have nursed her till beyond 2 years old if I could have, but I really needed her to sleep better. While I was nursing she was waking up every 2-3 hours. It went on like this until I stopped nursing. Once I stopped, it really helped. Like immediately. I started putting her down with a bottle of organic almond milk (she's lactose sensitive) and she started only waking up twice a night. A couple months of that and she was up only once a night. It was glorious. Currently she's still waking up once, but she's really really sensitive towards anything like gas at night, or if she has a runny nose. If something is amiss with her body, she will be up 2-3 times a night. 

Clothes

She currently wears 18-24 month clothing. It really depends on the brand. Today she has a skirt on that's a 3T so just goes to show. 

Diet

She eats pretty much anything, but goes through these picky phases. She can handle a little bit of eggs and some dairy if it's in food like mashed potatoes, etc. For liquids she does strictly almond or an almond coconut blend. She also drinks water. No juices. She hates anything green so I still give her at least 1-2 baby food pouches that have the green vegetables mixed in. 

Milestones

She's done so much since I last updated. She's really so smart and seems to pick up things faster at this age then her other sisters. She can identify her body parts and when I call out an animal she'll make the sound of it. I've been trying to be better about working on some spanish and arabic words with her. She's also enjoying to be read too more and more. She is so sweet. I love seeing her head full of curly hair walking around everywhere. She could stand to not be so clingy sometimes and maybe let me eat in peace sometimes, but that's what babies do. As much as I get frustrated sometimes or stressed out, I know when I'm older I'm going to look back and wish for those days back. 

On being the baby of four

I've been enjoying seeing the girls interact with each other. Ava has started to want to do things just like her sister's and feel like a "big girl". With just Ava and Mariam my 4 year old at home in the morning's they've started to play with each other more and more--and even fight. It's been nice to see Mariam mature a little more and seeing what a good big sister she can be to Ava. 

Have a great Sunday!