School Daze

My baby starts pre-school tomorrow and I am kind of dreading it. Friday was meet the teacher day there, and it went pretty good. She was kind of clingy at first, but didn't cry. I think she was just overwhelmed by all of the activity. There were a bunch of kids and parents all over the place, and she didn't know what to make of it. I tried to keep my distance as much as possible so that she could be by herself and I could observe her. It went good until one little boy cornered her against a bookshelf to give her a hug. Brent and I were watching, and the kids mom let him hug her for way too long. Ava was literally frozen, backed into a corner while this kid hugged her. She didn't move or make a sound, just let him do it. I wanted to go over there and take her away but I had to stop myself. She needs to learn to handle those kinds of situations on her own. I won't be there tomorrow if this kid invades her space again. On the way home I kept telling her that is anyone hugs her and she doesn't like it she should say "no thank you" or say "teacher." I think she will do okay, but I know dropping her off will be hard, and I will be thinking about her every minute.

Ava & Max, ready to go!












After School - Looks like she over-did the self tanner

Weekend Update

I can't think of a good title for this one. This is going to be about 3 posts in one. mostly all pictures. First off - an Ava update. I saw this format on another blog and I am stealing it. She won't mind, because she probably stole it from someone else too.

Kid Update:
Ava Nicole


AKA: Baby, Stinker, Ava A (Brent hates that one), Ava-ness (Ashley calls her that)

Age: 1.5 years (18.5 months)

Favorite TV shows: Backyardigans, Curious George

Favorite Foods: mac n cheese, spaghetti, pizza (see above pic), FRUIT - any kind, and unfortunatly, McDonald's french fries. She has only gotten them twice and she is hooked. She will not be getting those very often.

Hobbies: coloring, making someone read to her, tumbling ("tundles"), spinning, patty cake, swimming.



Upcoming Events: pre-school starts next Monday, 2 mornings a week. We are going to Ohio at the end of this month too. Ava turns 19 months Aug 23rd.

Latest Quotes: "I found it!" - "Awww man" - "Broke it!" and "Fix it!" - "Rainbow!" - "Pizza" - "Stand up!" - "Awake"

Trademark: I hate to say it, but whining. She tends to whine a lot, especially in the afternoon. She also is known for her cuddling, which she loves to do. When we put her to bed at night, she goes back and forth between us giving us hugs and kisses.

One story about the french fries - the first time I took her there was a Saturday. We had been out and I was starving and I'm sure she was hungry too, so I hit the drive thru. I got her a chicken nugget happy meal, and I let her snack on her fries in the car. I gave her half of the little bag, and she scarfed them down. Days later, I stopped at Dunkin Donuts on the way to work to get some bagels for Jen and Ashley. I went through the drive thru. Ava had been pretty quiet, but as soon as the lady handed me the bag of bagels, Ava starts yelling "French fries! French fries!" I had to explain to her that not every paper bag contains french fries.

Here are some pictures from last weekend of the park we took Ava to.









Ava also got a couple of new pairs of shoes for school. She liked them so much she wanted to put them on and model them.







I have more to post - Ava's first haircut! - but I will do that later, I have to run now.

Play Ball!

This weekend was pretty fun. Friday night we just hung out and watched a movie. Saturday morning Brent and Ava spent some quality Daddy-daughter time together. He took her to the beach so that I could get some work done at home. Ava got to spend Saturday night at Gee-ma's house because Brent and I went to see a Devil Rays game. We got to St. Pete early so we stopped at the The Pier and ate some good chocolate. The Devis Rays are not a good team, so tickets are pretty cheap and parking is free. We ended having really good seats in a row practically by ourselves. They were playing the Orioles, and Tampa actually won. We got to see a home run and Brent caught a foul ball! It was the craziest thing - we were just talking about how a foul ball probably wouldn't make it to us because we were too sheltered. The next time the batter hit the ball it came straight to us. Brent didn't have a glove but he just stood up and caught it! It was crazy, I was laughing so hard. He was very proud of himself, especially because this time it didn't hit him in the throat.
Ava had a great time at Gee-ma's house, but she woke up very early over there and byt the time we picked her up around 10:30am, she was pretty cranky. We tried to get her to nap but she wouldn't, so we took her to a splash park. I thought she would love it, but as it turned out she really wasn't in the mood. I think she was all swimmed out from this past week. Rather than play in the water, she wanted to run all around the park and make us chase her.
One of the best things to happen this week was Ava counting to 10 all by herself! It was Friday and we were just hanging out on the couch. She was playing and out of nowhere she starts counting. Normally she stops at 3, but this time she kept going, and she did not miss a single number! When she got to 10 Brent and I freaked out and startled her a little. I was so proud of her my eyes started to water. Something so little can just amaze you. Her language is developing so fast, she is going to be full-on talking in no time.

This is Toby. He stands in our front yard.

Ava likes to dance with Toby.

They exchange hugs.

He even lets her poke him in the eye.

There is a story about how we aquired Toby, but that is for another post. Good night!

Big Boned

Tonight Brent was craving ice cream. After much arm twisting, he convinced me that I wanted some too. I have been dieting for a while and have lost 8 lbs, which for me is a record. I told him to pick me up some Ben n Jerry's low-fat frozen yogurt. When he came back from the store he told me he couldn't find any low-fat frozen yogurt, so he brought me these Breyer's poppers-things. They're new. I checked them out. They are Reeses Peanut Butter cup variety, and one serving contains 34g of fat (52% of daily value) and 23g saturated fat (115% daily value). He tries.