For the last couple months we have been doing basic sign language with Ava and there is no doubt that she is starting to pick it up. She has given Jessica the sign for milk a couple times now and does it again as soon as she sees the bottle. This is so exciting! She’s like a little sponge absorbing everything she can. The fact that she is starting to communicate with us blows my mind. She’s only 7 months old after all. Now that we know she is learning signs we’re doing our best to teach her new ones as often as possible. She’s already such a happy baby but if she can easily tell us what she wants she will be even less likely to get upset. We couldn’t be more proud of her.
I received my second stripe in Gracie Jiu–Jitsu today, which means that I have 40 hours of instruction under my belt (pardon the pun) and can start attending our ‘Reflex Development’ class on Saturday mornings. This is a more advanced class that requires a mouthguard and gloves. My Jiu–Jitsu buddies at work are a bit jealous because they want to come to this class but they have to get to 40 hours first. I’ll definitely be going this Saturday.
The day after tomorrow will be the one year anniversary from our first post on this website. It’s hard to believe how different (and better) our lives are now that we have Ava. At this time last year I was bartending, had just gotten back into web design, and was hoping to find a job in the tech industry. Today I’m a senior production developer at an amazing company, working right by the beach in La Jolla, doing development work for companies like GE, Nike and Mattel, and going to school to finish my bachelor’s degree. It almost doesn’t even seem possible but it all worked out so perfectly. I’ve been extremely fortunate.
Jessica and Ava had lunch with our friend Natasha today at the Olive Garden. She’s doing yoga tonight while Ava and I hang out at home. Between her yoga classes and her Zumba classes she’s keeping busy and having a lot of fun. Natasha is going to Zumba with her tomorrow night and it sounds like Amy is going to try it when she comes out to visit on the 20th. I’m just glad she has some private time to do something she enjoys. Lisa told me she has about 150 more photos of Ava for us so hopefully we’ll have some new pics up here soon.