Check THIS out!

A Mongolian Spot, Mongolian Fleck or Mongolian Blue Spot is a benign flat congenital birthmark with wavy borders and irregular shape, most common among East Asians and Turks, and named after Mongolians. It is also extremely prevalent among East Africans and Native Americans. It normally disappears three to five years after birth and almost always by puberty. The most common color is blue, although they can be blue-gray, blue-black or even deep brown.

Prevalence

Mongolian spots are most prevalent among Mongols, Turks, and other Asian groups, such as the Chinese, Japanese, and especially the Koreans. Nearly all East Asian infants are born with one or more Mongolian spots. It is also common if only one of the parents is East Asian. Among East African infants it is found at rates between 90-95% and 85-90% of Native American infants.

The incidence among Caucasians, that is, the indigenous peoples of Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the Indian subcontinent (Pakistan, north India, Bangladesh) is between 1-10%.

However, it has been found to be prominent among Europeans that have had extensive interaction with Hun cultures or a central asian origin, most notably the Hungarians who have a 22.6% occurrence rate among their population.

There is an incidence of 50-70% among the countries of the Americas, as a result of the Native American admixture found in mestizos (people of mixed European and Native American ancestry) that is an important racial group among some countries.

Examples:

Ava the Mongolian Baby:

You can't see them very well in the picture, but I assure you they are there. In fact, they were documented at her birth by the doctors and nurses due to the fact that they appear similar to bruises. Should some misinformed soul ever mistake them for abuse, we have all our bases covered.

Where on earth did they come from you ask? After some asking around and digging up family history and heritages, my mom told me I had one as well. She thinks it may have come from her father's side who had Native American Indian influences. Woo hoo!! Add that to the list of traits she's gotten from me so far.

I think she may inherit her father's musical talent. I caught this jam session earlier today:

Luv X Infinity

Here ye, here ye

Last weekend we traveled to Indiana with Ava to visit my relatives. I really wanted my Grandmother to meet Ava. My Grandma is 90 years old and in an assisted living facility. The trip was short but sweet. Ava did beautifully on the airplanes, and was so extremely patient and tolerant of being passed around from person to person. I think she charmed the pants off of everyone!

History was made, and I was extremely emotional witnessing this very special moment:


Ava smiled and told her life story to her Great-Grandma. We got it all on video too! I honestly never thought I would have the chance to experience this. Funny how life is.

P.S. I want to give a big shout out to Shawna's mom whom I understand is a loyal follower. HI SHAWNA'S MOM!

Ava is now 11.5 weeks old.

2 Month Check-up

We survived. Well, I survived I guess I should say. I promised myself I wouldn't break down and cry this time - I'm not that hormonal anymore. I was fine until Bob brought her back out to the waiting room and handed her over to me. I saw a tiny wet spot on his shirt from her tears. TEARS. REAL TEARS!!! My baby was crying real tears from getting those two nasty, traumatic shots in the leg. My world came crumbling down. I snatched her and just held on to her and we both cried as we walked out to the car. She quickly calmed down and actually started smiling again, but I continued the guilt-ridden water works the whole way home AGAIN.

Once we got home I fed her and she passed out for a couple of hours. She was pretty cranky for the rest of the night which was to be expected but we just gave her extra love (and some infant tylenol) and she was good. Today is much better, she is back to being my smiley little girl who likes to be held in a "standing" position. That's right, 10 weeks old and already wants to stand. Where did my tiny newborn go?????

Ava is doing great! She weighs 12 pounds, 3 ounces and is a whopping 24 inches long. She's going to by my tall & skinny supermodel. She also likes to talk quite a bit still and just cracks us up several times a day.

Ava is taking her first plane trip this weekend to Indiana to meet her 90 year-old great grandmother. Wish us luck with the trip, hopefully she will do just fine.

Ava is ten weeks old.

Keep Your Snit to Yourself

I saw this on another blog and HAD to post it here. Click on the image to make it larger.

Little Rock-n-Roller

Here's Ava rocking a Slayer onesie. Her daddy is so proud!


She is really starting to talk to us quite a bit. I think she inherited her father's gift of gab. Her favorite word is "whoooooooo". Her next dr. appt is Monday the 9th, let's see how much weight Piggy has gained. I am going to guess she weighs close to 14 pounds.

Ava is 9 weeks old.