Sheesh

Geez it has been a long time. I want to post a lot more than I do, and I have the best of intentions. But when 10:00pm comes along, and the dishes are done and the living room is picked up and laundry is in process, it is hard to stay up long enough. I hope that my loyal readers (all 6 of you) don't desert us. We are nothing if not busy. Did that sentence make sense?
Anyway, Ava has a doctor's appointment tomorrow. It is her 15 month visit and I think she gets shots (boo). But after this I don't think she has to go back for a looong time (yeh!) And of course, right before a doctor's appointment she has to get some kind of injury or bruise or something. This time it's a misquito bite on the side of her face that got alarmingly big and red. Seriously, the red was as big as a quarter. People asked me what happened to her face. It didn't bother her though, she hasn't itched at it to messed with it at all. It was looking a lot better today, so I think it will be almost gone by tomorrow. For some reason I like to have her looking as healthy and put-together as possible when we go to the doctor's. I feel like they are judging me as a parent just as much as they are checking her health.
I have started to buy Ava her new summer wardrobe. Every 3 months or so she outgrows pretty much everything she owns, and all of a sudden has nothing to wear. I bought her some cute outfits, and I am especially excited because we are shopping for our vacation that is coming up in 22 days! I am so looking forward to getting to NJ again. I am excited for Ava to be on a plane, and to get out of FL for a while. It is going to be great. I am worried about how she will behave on the plane, and also how she will sleep up there and stuff like that, but we'll deal with that as it happens I guess.
We also bought her 2 new toys that we get to enjoy as well. One is a new bicycle (for us) and a bike seat on the back for her! It gets boring just walking around the block all the time, so the bike is something new and it let's us go farther and we get some great excercise. She loves it! As soon as we start moving she goes, "oooohhh!" and then she is completely silent the whole time. The only time she makes a sound is if she hears a dog barking, then she goes, "oof." It is the funniest thing. The other night I played hooky from the Y, and we went on a family bike ride together around the neighborhood, and it was perfection.
The other thing we bought her is a kiddie pool. Not one of those yucky hard plastic ones, but a really cool one. Today we tried it for the first time and she loved it maybe more than the bike seat. I get to enjoy it by sticking my feet in, but pretty soon I plan to go for a swim. I'm going to get a beach umbrella and one of those old fold-out rubber lawn chairs and make a whole white trash day out of it. Pictures to follow soon.
Well, it is now midnight, way past my bed time. I'll post pictures tomorrow (and maybe video!)

Happy Easter

We went over to Gina & Eric's for an Easter egg hunt and barbeque. Ava was great, she made $4.00 from Easter eggs and scored her mom and Dad some candy! They have a pool there and Ava was all over it, a couple of times actually trying to get in. She about gave Brent a heart attack sticking her hands in the water. He was sure she was going in. Ava also got a cute pail and shovel with her name on it and a stuffed bunny, also with her name on it, from her Grandpappy Cappy & Yvie.
Ava sizing up cousin Zach.

Modeling

Doggy!


We said smell the flower, not kiss the flower


Triumph!

Ava's going after the duck

Clingy

With each new phase that Ava goes through, there are good things and bad things that come about. Right now, it seems like she learns something new everyday. She is always trying to say a new word, or master a new skill, or play a new game. Today she tried to blow bubbles for the first time, and she actually blew a couple! That was after she stuck the bubble wand in her mouth a little. But it was so great to see! She is trying to say the word "bubble" too. She is learning hot and cold, and when I sang the song "Ring Around the Rosy" she spun around and she fell down at the right time. She knows how to take the dirty diaper and put it in the trash can, and she does it after every diaper change - even when we're not at home! Today she did it at the Y. She has a favorite stuffed animal now, we call it her snuggle bunny. It's a soft pink bunny rabbit that plays music. She hugs it and loves on it when we give it to her, and she sleeps with it. These are all of the great things.
One of the bad things is that she has been very whiny and clingy lately. Wherever we are she doesn't want me to leave the room. Where I work they have the kitchen and living room seperated by one of those baby gates. You can't see into the kitchen from the living room, and I have to go through the kitchen to get to the room that I work in. When we go to work I hang out with her and Max for a few minutes, and get her playing with something. When I think she is sufficiently distracted, I attempt to make my exit. As soon as I get one leg over that gate she starts crying. I usually ignore it and she stops after a minute. When I come back in the room, she runs over to me and wants me to hold her. She wants me to hold her all of the time now! She was always such an independant baby that this new phase takes me by surprise. When I am standing in the kitchen, she will wedge herself between me and the cabinets in order to get me to hold her. She wraps her arms around my legs and buries her face. She hugs on me and climbs on me and basically wants me to be around at all times. I love that she misses me so much and wants to love on me, but it gets frustrating when I need to do things around the house or when I have to go to work.
I just tell myself to enjoy this time, because it probably won't last for long. There will surely come a day when I will have to corner her to get a hug, and beg her to hang out with me instead of hanging out in her bedroom or with her friends all the time. To her, right now I am the coolest thing going. It's hard to believe, but one day she won't think that. That is depressing. I love you Ava, I hope you always love me as much as you do now.
How cool is this? Rockstar.

Scared Happy

I posted a little note last night, but now I see that it never actually posted, so oh well. Anyway, on to Monday night. It was around midnight, and our little family was tucked into bed. I got up to go to the bathroom, and saw light shining into the bathroom window. I went to the bedroom window and saw a police officer walking through my yard with a flashlight. There were also 2 police cars in front of our house. Obviously I woke Brent up and we went outside. The police officer was now in our back yard. He said a neighbor had called them because a suspicious man was spotted "creeping" through our yard, towards our back yard. Of course I was shocked and completely freaked. The guy was nowhere to be found, so the police told us to lock up and left. They did drive by a couple of times after that - I knew that because I was up pretty much all night after that. After checking every window and door, Brent and I sat at the dining room table in the dark, staring out the back slider for probably half an hour. After we went to bed, Brent fell asleep but I was up. I was paranoid to begin with, but after this it is way worse. This whole week I've been checking the windows and doors over and over, and sleeping with my cell phone in my hand.
I have always felt very safe in this town, especially in our neighborhood. Our street doesn't have much traffic and it is pretty close knit. We know all our neighbors and we look out for each other. Luckily, the neighbor across the street was letting his dog out and happened to see the guy in our yard. I hate feeling unsafe in my own home. My theory about the creep is either he was just some wacko wandering around the street, or maybe he was cuting through our back yard. That would be pretty hard considering our back yard is woods that are very dense. You cannot walk through them. That or he was just looking for an easy target, like an open car (which mine was) or an open shed (which our's was). Nothing was taken.

On to happier news. Baby Ava is getting so big and trying to say so many words. She tries to say "baby" and "juice." One funny thing she says is "Uncle B!" My boss, Jennifer, has a brother named Brian. Jennifer's son, Max, calls him Uncle B. Max adores his Uncle B, and goes around the house saying his name a lot. Since Ava and Max hang out all day while I'm working, Ava has started to say it to. It sounds so funny when they say it because of the tone of voice they use. It sounds like they are saying "whhheeee!" When Ava says it it sounds like "bunkle-bunkle-eeeeee!" Ava loves Uncle B too. Whenever he comes over she goes right to him and wants him to pick her up, and she'll just sit on his lap. She has an Uncle D and an Uncle E, but Brian is her adopted Uncle B.
Ready for cuteness overload? Look at these pictures. Ava loves water; she loves the hose, the sink, baby pools, and now - the sprinkler! I had it on to water the plants, and she wasted no time jumping right in. I want to post a lot of pictures so I am making them small. Click on them to see them bigger.