We're Back!

Well we made it back in one piece! We got home at 6am Saturday morning. The original plan was to leave NC Saturday around noon, but Ava was being so cranky our entire trip that we decided it would be better to drive during the night Friday night than to sit in a car with a crying baby for 11 hours. The drive up there went as good as it could go. We left FL around 8:30pm, Ava fell asleep almost immediately and she only woke up once, around 2am when we had to stop for gas. We made it to Nanny's at 7am and Ava was able to stay pretty much on her normal schedule. Tuesday at home she was so cranky, and she was cranky pretty much our whole time up there. I don't know what her deal was but she was so clingy and bad tempered. It was probably just the change of routine and the drive, and being in a new place. She has such a little temper, and it's really starting to show. She did sleep well up there though. That was the main thing I was worried about. She napped with me in bed most of the time, and she slept in her pack n play all night. We mostly just hung around Nanny's, but on Friday we took a drive to the gorge to get some pictures. Of course, our camera ran out of batteries as soon as we got there so I only took 2 pictures. We were expecting pretty cold weather since that's how it usually is, but this year was the warmest year I can remember. She looked so darn cute in her winter clothes though! I know I say this all the time but she is getting so big, she looks different everyday to me.
It was so nice to have this whole weekend off and just be able to hang out together. We never get a full weekend.Today we cleaned and put up our Christmas lights and a tree. Normally we would go buy a real tree, but last year I was pregnant and didn't feel like dragging all the Christmas stuff out. My Dad insisted that we have a tree, so we bought a fake one. This year I didn't want to put a big tree up because Ava would be all over it. She'd be pulling at the branches, pulling off ornaments, it would be a mess, so we bought a small 4' fake tree and put it on a table. It doesn't look that bad, and it's better than no tree at all. We also bought Ava the cutest Christmas dress. It is red velvet, and she's going to wear tights and little black patent leather mary janes. It is so cute!
I almost forgot to mention that Ava said her first real word while we were up in NC! She said "uh oh!" It sounds funny when she says it, but that is definitely what she's saying, and she would copy us when we said it. Of course, she said it a bunch of times that day and hasn't said it since. She also said "mamamamamama" up there a lot. It is so exciting.
I have a ton of pictures from up there and I would love to post so many of them but it takes a long time and a lot of space, so I'm just posting a few. I think I'm going to set up a flickr account so that people can view them all if they want. You might see one of these on a Christmas card soon!
Playing in the leaves!

She loved riding in this wagon



Ava & Lexi

On the Road

We hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving and eats a lot. We are heading out on what will probably end up the drive from hell. Ava has not been in a good mood today and I still have so much to do before we go. I will post when we return.

Worries

I haven't been good about keeping up with the blog lately, and I feel really bad. We've just been crazy busy. I am transitioning from working at the Y to working at that other job. I am really looking forward to having afternoons and evenings off, and getting Ava out of that baby sitting room. It wasn't that bad, but some of the kids were so bad an I could hardly give Ava attention, and a couple of times she got hurt in there. They have this little car that kids sit on and zoom around the room (they push it with their feet) and a couple of times Ava's fingers got run over because the kids weren't watching where they were going. I wanted to take that car out to the parking lot and run it over with my truck. I hate that car.

Anyway, one thing is worrying me - on Wednesday I noticed that Ava had a bite of some kind on her back. It is right above her butt and just inside the back of her diaper.It is really red, kind of hard, almost like a callous, and about the size of a nickel. I was afraid it was a spider bite. It doesn't seem to bother her at all, even when we touch it, so I wasn't going to do anything and just keep an eye on it. Well today Brent and I both noticed that she was acting a little weird. She wasn't talking as much as she usually does, and she just seemed quiet and less active. I'm afraid she isn't feeling well and I'm afraid it's because of the bite. While we thought it was getting better, Brent said it looked worse tonight than it did last night. I am definitely taking her to the doctor on Monday. We are leaving to go out of town on Tuesday and I am not going to take any chances. She could just be getting a cold, since Brent and I have both had cold this month. I really hope she is acting more like herself tomorrow. She sleeps with her butt up in the air most of the time, and the idea that a spider could have been in her crib, and crawled into her diaper disgusts me! I have never seen a biting spider in here, at least that I know of. Brent and I have never gotten bit. I am going to take a picture of the bite.

I have SO many pictures of her that I haven't gotten around to posting. I haven't even loaded them on my computer yet. I will try to do that before we leave for North Carolina. We are very excited to get out of here. I washed all of Ava's new winter clothes and she has some super cute stuff. We just have so much to do before we go. I have to pack for myself and for her, clean out my car, Brent has to find some time to load up the car, clean the house, and I need to go shopping for some stuff we need for the trip. Oh well, we'll get it done somehow.

Doctor

Ava went to her 9 month well baby check up on Monday. She weighed in at 20.6 lbs (85th %), 29 3/4" tall (95th %), and I forget what the head size is but I think it was in the 25th %. She did great, I was all happy that she didn't have to get any shots until I found out that they recommend babies get a flu shot. Since they recommend it, I said okay. Ava screamed. I hate her shots. It was kind of funny though because when they gave her to me she was crying and looking at them and babbling away, like she was telling them how pissed off she was at them. Unfortunately, she has to go back in a month to get another one, I guess they do 2 for some reason. Other than that, she was doing great and they said I can start giving her whole milk and weaning her off of formula. I was happy to hear that because it will save us a lot of money on formula. My biggest regret so far with Ava is that I couldn't nurse her, I really tried. It just didn't work for us. I am going to try again with the next baby. Anyway, we are starting slowly. She like whole milk, and we only give it to her in a cup. Our goal is to have her off formula and maybe even off the bottle by 1 year old. The hard part is going to be bedtime. I always rock her with a bottle before bed and she falls asleep. It will be a hard transition.

I am already thinking about Ava's first birthday party. I wrote out a guest list and it is close to 50 people! So I'm thinking that we are going to do something outside because that many people will not fit in our house. I don't care that it will be January and might be cold. Actually, if I remember correctly it wasn't very cold when Ava was born. I don't know if I want to have it at our house or a park or something.

It is late and I can't think straight so I am going to bed. I will write more and post pictures tomorrow. I have something I want to rant about too but that will have to be later.

Big Babies

I love Friday nights. It's the only night of the week that Brent and I are home together and can just relax. Life has been hectic and stressful this past month, even more than usual. I began yet another job, on top of the 2 that I already had. It wasn't so much out of necessity, but I just kind of fell into it. I met this couple at the YMCA, they would bring their 14 month old son Max into the babysitting room. They had both been big shots at AT&T in Minneapolis, and then he got downsized and they moved back to Florida and started a business. I won't go into all the specifics, because it's kind of boring, but the company is in the insurance field, and they run it out of their home. They knew that I had worked in a corporate setting before I had Ava, and their company is really growing and they needed help, so they asked me to come work for them. I met with them one day and next thing you know I've been working there for the past month. Like any job there are pros and cons. One of the biggest pros is that I can bring Ava. They have a nanny who comes in everyday to watch their son, so she watches Ava too. She is a very nice girl and she gets along with Ava very well. So does Max. Darwin and Jenn, my bosses, are very nice too. It is kind of weird working in their home, but they live on a saltwater canal that feeds into the bay, and I sit facing the water and see manatees playing out there everyday. A con is that it is insurance. Insurance=boring. Darwin already signed me up for the course to become a licensed insurance agent for life, health and annuities. Bleh. And their company deals specifically with medicare programs, all that Part A and D and prescription plans stuff. Anyway, I've been doing that on top of the Y, and it has been killing me. Ava and I leave the house at 9am, and then don't get home until 8:30pm. I'm afraid it's been rough on her too, it isn't fair to her that she has to be dragged around with me to these jobs. So I've decided to stop working at the Y am just work with these other people. Ava then only has to deal with one other child, and she gets personal attention from the nanny. I get to eat lunch with her and hear her playing. My hours are flexible and we get to be home in the afternoons and evenings. Plus it pays more too.
Okay, now that I've rambled on about me (maybe I should start my own blog?)now on to Ava. As I mentioned before we missed her appointment with the doctor, so I have now idea how much she's grown, but it seems like we can see her growing everyday. Seriously, sometimes I look at her and think she looks bigger than she did that morning. She's wearing 12 month size clothing one her, it's a little roomy but she is growing into it. I think she has grown into her chubbiness, if that makes any sense. Her bottom teeth still haven't grown out all the way yet, but they are definitely there. I think her top ones are coming in too because she has had a runny nose for over a week now. She crawls so fast now, and she can walk holding onto the table pretty good too. She is starting to show a wider range of emotions too. The other day she was sitting on the floor in our room and she was pulling on the cord to the blinds. She started making these grunts, and I realized she was getting frustrated because she wanted to pull the blinds up so she could see out the window and she couldn't do it. She was really trying. She also gets so excited now. She waves her hands and makes this funny noise. I bought her this Fridge Farm thing that plays banjo music when she presses a button and she loves it. She'll press the button and as soon as she hears it she gets all excited and she looks at me, because I start doing a funny dance. She kind of bops along too. She's usually sitting on her knees and she'll start bouncing up and down. She loves it when I dance and clap for her. She also loves it when I sing Little Bunny Foo-Foo, she tries to copy the hand movements. When I sing to her, especially the ABC's, she will stare right at my mouth and it looks like she's concentrating on the sounds I am making, almost like she is fascinated by the different sounds. That makes me so happy because I know at that moment she is learning something. She loves to flip the light switch off. I turn it on again, and she will flip it off, and this can go on and on.
Since we have been working at the insurance biz, Ava has been exposed to lots of different foods, some I am not so happy about. The nanny has given her tater tots and french fries. Not in big amounts or anything, but I am kind of hesitant about introducing crap like that into her diet. She of course loves them. She has also eaten lots of good stuff too though, like peas and carrots, cheese, tomatoes, and even chicken. Ava doesn't really like to eat baby food. It's either that or she just would rather feed herself than have me feed her off a spoon. She loves eating people food. Last night I was eating pizza and she crawled right over to me and stood there holding on to my leg and demanded that I give her some. I would rip off little bits of dough and put it in her mouth. I would take a bite, then give her a piece, and this went on until the pizza was gone. I have to hide what I'm eating. I am pretty glad she is beginning to eat food like that because it's a lot more fun than baby food.
Well, it is late and I should get some pictures on here. We are excited because in less than 3 weeks we are going to North Carolina for Thanksgiving! I am not looking forward to the drive, but I am looking forward to getting the heck out of Florida for a few days and shopping for winter stuff for Ava. She needs everything!
Oops, I just realized I didn't mention Halloween. We took Ava trick or treating with Skylar, her 6 year old cousin. I wasn't going to dress her up but Brent bought a costume for her. It was a purple a black dress and witches hat. Of course Ava wouldn't tolerate the hat, but the dress looked really cute. It was so hot! We didn't really trick or treat, just walked up to the door with Skylar. Ava did score a Twix from one house though!

Ava trying on Daddy's Indiana Jones hat. She doesn't like hats.

Doesn't she look excited?




Ava and her Twix

Ava and her buddy Nathan. Yes, Ava is topless. She won't be naked in front of a boy again until she's married.

Mommy & Daddy at a Halloween party

Halloween

I will post on Saturday, it is too late and I am too tired to write a big post now. Ava was supposed to have her 9 month well baby visit today at 9:30am. I rushed to get us out of the house on time and when I went to start the car it wouldn't start. I rescheduled the appointment for 1:45pm and Brent brought home a new battery on his lunch hour and changed it out. The car then started right up. Ava had fallen asleep on our bed, and since we had some time before we had to leave I decided to crawl in bed with her and lay down for "just a minute." Well, she curled up next to me and we ended up sleeping too late and missing the appointment! Grrr. I once again rescheduled it for Monday.