Ava's first Halloween...

Ava let us dress her in her Halloween costume, but she didn't let us keep her in it for very long. As you can see from the photo, she wasn't that "into it." She roared like a lion alright. Our little lioness (per Steve McGregory) was that for all of five minutes! She even kicked her hind claws off. Ohhhh, what a little cutie. We had so much fun with her on her first Halloween!

Cutie patootie...

Mimi and Bopa Hajdu visit Ava

Ava's grandparents from Dallas made a visit to Austin to meet her! We had such a great weekend. Ava is at the perfect age because she is just starting to look and focus on things and people. Her grandparents were no exception. She was such an angel and loved spending time on their shoulders! She snuggled right up to them.

Ava's loves to play with her daddy and look at her birdie!

Ava is really beginning to respond to us by smiling, interacting by cooing and she focuses on objects like her birdie. Yep, we're beginning to play and have lots of fun together. She even tracks objects and people! She has the sweetest smile that is contagious and melts our hearts. She is staying up longer and has been so much more alert over these last weeks. It is truly amazing how much she has changed in such a short time.

Ava turns one month old!

Yep...we celebrated Ava's one month birthday. She is four Thursday's old ;-) The next birthday we will celebrate won't be until September 4, 2009 - stay tuned!

We have always heard that you are never supposed to wake a sleeping baby and now we know why! We quickly learned over the last several weeks how important that rule is to follow. So...with this celebration being no exception to the rule we let Ava sleep through her birthday...again. We made sure to make special wishes for her, blow out her candle and enjoy her chocolate cake!

Ava's monkey named Monte

Chris placed a cute brown monkey we received at a baby shower given to us by our family (Kyle Voorhees, my second cousin picked it out!) on Ava's shelf above her diaper changing pad. When he changes her diaper, I could hear him asking her, "Where is your monkey? Can you find your monkey?" She would stare right at it...and it began to be something we continuously ask her to entertain her while we are changing her diaper.

Then...Chris decided to name the monkey Monte...after my parents neighbor who we love and adore. Monte doesn't mind...and now will forever be known as Uncle Monkey!