Ava is here...

AVA (9 1/2 Weeks Old)

I have been looking for a way to keep in touch with family and friends for a while now and happened across a friend who was doing a blog. It looked so good I thought I would give it a try. This is a great way to post pictures of Ava for our loved ones who don't have Facebook.

I have been doing so well. I think I am facing the challenges of motherhood in stride but I'll admit at times it's all I can do not to scream at people. Having a newborn out in the world is hard. I constantly worry about things that could happen. I am working on relaxing more and letting people hold the baby. That is probably the hardest part. Trusting others to care for her as well as I do. I know when she laughs, why she is laughing... why she cries and what she wants... when she makes a face what it means. How can I trust others to know her as well as I do? I spend 24 hours a day with my mini-me. -Sigh- Time to focus on letting the stress go.

My-oh-my how the time has flown. Ava and I are in a wonderful schedule now. She sleeps through the night. First for five hours and then eats then she's back to sleep ever so easily and sleeping for another three hours and then another three after a quick bite to eat. She's so happy when she wakes up. She smiles a big toothless grin when she sees my face right when she wakes up. She is sleeping with me still. It is so much easier to pull her to me to feed without waiting for the desperate cry that I dread hearing when she is really hungry or unhappy.

She is turning into her own little person now. No longer the shapeless newborn that she was. Her face is developing into the beautiful little girl she will be. Being the mother of this child is the fruition of everything I have ever wanted. How the good Lord could trust me with this precious life is beyond my understanding. I just hope I can do my best and be every bit the mother my mom was/is.

Ava will be 10 weeks on Saturday. We are really looking forward to her meeting Noni Trudy and Grandpa Bearden in October when they come to Columbia. She will be around 5 months old then. I wonder what will change by then!