Kitchen

The Before's




The During's




The After's

Wonder Girl

I haven't posted much because I've been sick for the past week. I had another sinus infection, and tonight is the first night that I've felt decent. When I get sick my voice is the first thing to go, and the last thing to get back, and I hate it! Brent was sick for a couple of days and Ava had a runny nose, but I think that was because she is finally getting her top front teeth! I am so happy. She is 13 months old today and is just now getting them. And, she became an official walker on Valentine's Day. She took 4 consecutive steps on December 26th, and after that she would take more and more but she would still crawl most of the time. On Feb. 14th it was like something clicked and she was walking everywhere. When she fell, instead of crawling, she would get right back up and walk. She is getting better and better everyday now, and we are so proud of her. She had one bad walking accident so far (knock on wood) - she was walking in her room, tripped over her shoe, and hit her nose on the window sill. It bled just a little bit and she had a red mark for a couple of days, but she is okay.
She is loving her books - one in particular. She has this big, animal picture book and she will get it and come over to us and sit in our lap and point out all of the pictures for us. She can identify most of them too - doggie, cat, fish, horse, monkey, and a couple of others. She is learning the parts of her body too. She learned belly first, and now she knows head, toes, knees (sometimes) and unfortunately, boobies (sometimes). Ashley the babysitter taught her that one. Yesterday afternoon we were working at the YMCA, and the after-school elementary kids came into the babysitting room to wash their hands. While they were standing in line at the sink, Ava was staring at them, and then for no reason at all, she just lifts her shirt all the way up, and her belly and boobies were hanging out. Of course the little elementary kids thought this was hilarious, and I went over and pulled Ava's shirt down. That's my girl.
She understands so many words now. She looks up in the sky for birdies, she knows trees, and today she learned flower and how to smell them. Brent bought her a pink carnation for Valentine's Day, and today she was making me smell it, and I would take a big sniff and then go "ahhhhhh." She would then copy me. She points to things that she wants, and she knows where things go. She knows "books" and she walks to the bathroom when I say "bath." She loves to play with a ball, she tries to throw it to us.
Her bedtime routine changed too. She was getting to big to rock. Now we put pillows on the floor in her room, turn out the light and turn on this and we just look up at the pictures on the ceiling. Then when it goes off we lay in the dark listening to soft music, and after a few minutes we put her in the crib and she goes right to sleep without a sound. Usually either Brent or I do it alone, but tonight we put her to bed together, and it was really nice. Ava kept going back and forth, giving us kisses and hugs and cuddling with us both. She is the sweetest baby.
Speaking of bed, I'd better get there myself. Here's some random pictures from this month.

Ready for her close up:


Having fun on a walk:

Peek-a-Boo! I'm not wearing any pants!

Big blue eyes:


Valentine's Day dress


The everyday animal book:

Life is hard for a baby:

Family of sickos

I'll be posting soon. I am getting over a bad cold and have been going to bed early. It's nice. Going to bed early I mean - not being sick.

We didn't have a very good day today. Ava was good but she got hurt a couple of time. And she choked on a piece of apple and Ashley had to do the heimlich on her. I was working, Ashley, Ava and Max were out on the patio. I was on the phone with an agent when I heard Ava start crying the bad cry, the one that lets me know she got hurt. Ashley brings her in the kitchen and is holding her. I rush the agent off the phone (they think we are in an office, not a home)and run out there and Ashley tells me what happened. Luckily, Ashley noticed right away when it was happening, and it only took one good hit to Ava's back to dislodge it. I think Ava was more scared than anything, and maybe a little hurt from getting hit. I took her to a bedroom and laid down on the bed with her, and after a while she was fine. It just scared me so bad, I am always afraid of her choking. I kept thinking what if Ashley hadn't noticed in time, or what if she couldn't get it out. I can't focus on what if's though. Ava is fine. No more apple until we get more teeth!
Blagh, I changed the template of the blog obviously, and I don't really like it at all. All of the pictures on the side are gone, and it just looks all funky. I can't get back the old template so I guess I'm just going to have to work with this one.
In better news, we booked our tickets to go to New Jersey in May. We are going up to visit with my Dad. It will be Ava's first plane ride (oh god) and Brent's first time in NJ. I am a bit nervous about the plane trip with Ava. She will be 16 months old, walking, and will be riding on our lap for almost 3 hours. How do we keep her occupied and still for that long??? I tried to schedule the plane times around her nap times so hopefully she will sleep some of the time. How sweet would that be?
Happy Valentine's Day!

Party time!

Let me first say "thank you" to you, Ava. You let me and your Dad have a very nice walk around the mall and a nice dinner out tonight. You were so well behaved - we have actually had people tell us what a good baby you are. You have your moments, but you really are the best, I don't know what more I could ask for. Well, other than for you to change your own poopy diapers.

Now, on to your first birthday party -

THE GUESTS: mommy & daddy of course, Grandma & Grandpa, Grampy, Nanny, Aunt Nicole, Uncle Gary & Aunt Megan, Uncle Eric & Aunt Gina, Uncle Mike & Aunt Sue, Uncle Dan & Jennifer, cousins Zach, Skylar, Dylan, Brittnee, Sierra, and friends Tara and Nathan. Gram wanted to come but she had to work.

THE GIFTS: a potty chair (omigod), some princess jammies, fruit snacks, butterfly earrings (so cute!), pretty outfits from Aunt Gina, money for shopping from Tara & Nathan, a musical ladybug, some cute stuffed animals, and gift cards for more shopping! I hope I'm not forgetting anything.

The day started out rainy and cloudy, but it was all gone by party time and it ended up being a beautiful day. For your cake I put your high chair out on the patio and I was going to strip you down to your diaper, but it was kind of chilly out, so I put you in some old clothes. You liked it a lot, even though I scraped about a pound of frosting off the top. I let you get a couple of handfuls and then I had to take it away. I didn't want you to get a stomach ache from all the sugar! My only mistake was that we forgot to light the candle and sing Happy Birthday! I bought you one of those big number candles, and a pretty cake, but we just sliced it up after you tore into your little cake, and no one thought to sing. After everyone left, I found the candle and felt so bad, so I put it in a piece of cake and I sang to you and we blew out the candle. It wouldn't be a birthday without singing!

We had such a good time, and we're so glad that everyone came to celebrate with us.

Tennis, anyone?

Hanging out with cousin Skylar

What's Grandma gonna do with those racquets?

The "Before"

Such a good sharer

The "After"

Presents!