Breakin' 3: Pediatric Boogaloo

Some people think you shouldn't spin a baby on her head. We aren't those people. We're hoping you aren't those people either.

Yo, let's serve these fellas.

Ava goes upright

We've officially run out of new poses for Ava lying down on her black, white, and red mat. We're now branching out to the excersaucer, a.k.a. the "command center."

Ava's Fourth Month

Ava's fourth month was a month of firsts: among others, her first roll, her first hike, her first trip to the bar. Most memorable was her first (and hopefully last) night waking up every hour on the hour. Not surprisingly, this led to our first realization that in a test of wills, Ava always comes out the winner.

Let me see that tootsee roll

Lord have mercy. Ava's on the move.

I guess you just had to be there

While some babies were sleeping soundly, our little bambino was getting ready to reach a developmental milestone. It may have taken 30 minutes but we can now confirm that Ava successfully rolled over from her front to her back yesterday.

No video evidence yet; however, we assure you it's legit. In the meantime, enjoy this picture of one of her practice sessions.

And no, you're not the only one who thinks she looks like a boy in this outfit. In fact, it reads "I LIKE MUD."

Shake-a-bye Baby

Since our last posting about Ava's phenomenal sleep patterns (see April 6), we seem to have hit a bit of a bump in the road. Her impressive 9 hour sleep stretches have devolved into catnaps of sometimes only 30 minutes. Not that we're complaining. Oh wait...yes we are.

More troubling still is that Ava isn't one of those babies that drifts off effortlessly at bedtime. Rather, getting Ava to sleep could be considered an Olympic sport. A triathalon of bouncing, rocking, and swaying, if you will.

Bouncing is our "go-to" technique and has produced some of our record-breaking wake to sleep conversion times. For a real go-getter, this can be accomplished in no less than 20 minutes.

Rocking has a higher degree of difficulty and looks nothing like the type of rocking that puts TV babies to sleep. The type of rocking Ava enjoys requires you to be light on your toes as you hop from one foot to another while being sure not to shake the baby. That's very important. Don't shake the baby.

If bouncing and rocking haven't worked, it's going to be a long night and you may be in hour four of the bedtime routine. The swoop and sway is for experts only and can result in repetitive stress injuries. But think about the workout you're getting! You'll thank yourself later.