Florida

We headed down to Florida for Ava to meet relatives and family friends in June. Ava did wonderfully in the car seat (she has always hated it) on the trip down and I think that the trip has finally gotten her accustomed to the car seat and she no longer fusses about it. Yay! Ava got to meet her Uncle Brook, Aunt Heather, and her cousins, Gabriel (5), Madi (3), and Caleb (18 months) in Jacksonville and spend time with them.

From Jacksonville, we stopped in Wakulla for a couple of nights before we headed to Destin for a short beach vacation. It was wonderful to leave Ava with my mom and stepdad and lay on the beach without any worries. I simply walked back to the condo every time Ava needed to be fed. We introduced Ava to the beach one early morning and she was already drowsy for her morning nap so she mainly had her eyes closed during her experience. We dipped her feet in the water (it was pretty chilly) and she complained. I'm determined to make a beach lover out of her yet! I will post pictures on the Shutterfly site soon.

As I'm typing this, Ava is playing on her playmat/ jungle gym. I'm watching her trying to roll onto her stomach but only making it as far as her side before flopping back onto her back. She is achieving some milestones now! She is starting to reach out and grab things dangling above her on the play mat. She lays in one direction and wriggles until she's laying in another direction - usually surprising me! Some days, she babbles ceaselessly and practices diffferent sounds. When she has tummy time, I put her arms under her and she can push her chest off the floor. If I just lay her on her stomach, she hasn't figured out yet how to move her arms under her to push her chest off the floor. Otherwise, she just lifts her head about 90 degrees to look around.

It's a lot of fun to watch Ava learn and grow!

PS: Looks like Ava's eyes are turning brown...