Update

This year is just flying by. I know everyone says that, but really – it is! I’ve been on here so sporadically that I don’t really know how to start.

July 4th
We took Ava to a minor league baseball game because they were doing fire works after the game. It is a brand new stadium very close to our house, and you can buy really cheap tickets to sit in the grass along the field. We bring a blanket and just park it and Ava can play in the grass and hang out. I think it’s better than sitting in a seat because who wants to have a toddler sit in a seat for 3 hours surrounded be people? We went out to the parking lot during the 8th inning, and we did sparklers and watched the fireworks from the comfort of our air-conditioned car.

Ava is now officially swimming! Not bad for only being 3 ½. Both sets of grandparents have pools with no kid-fences around them, so I wanted her swimming as soon as possible. She is still hesitant sometimes, but once she gets in the water, she will go, and the more she does it the more confident she gets. Brent gets most of the credit for this, because he has been working with her for weeks. He is strict but it is working. Once he took away the arm floaties, there was no more and he didn’t back down. This past weekend we went over to my parent’s house to swim, and she was jumping in to us and swimming from person to person. Good stuff!

We are very excited to be going to New Jersey soon. We haven’t been up there in about 2 years. Ava was only 1 ½ so of course she doesn’t remember. The plane ride will be exciting because she doesn’t remember the other 2, so it’s like her first time. She thinks NJ sounds like a pretty magical place, and it’s true…it is.  It will be our only family vacation this year since I just finished school and Brent is starting fire school in August. The rest of the year will be spent getting ready for baby!

I still don’t know what I’m having yet. We should find out shortly after we come back from our trip. I am really looking forward to having the ultrasound. I have been pretty anxious most of this pregnancy. I guess that’s one of the side-effects of miscarriage – you are always preparing for the worst. I think I have felt the baby move this week, but it is really hard to say. I felt it 2 times yesterday, but I haven’t felt it again so I start to second-guess myself.

Well, I will have some pictures posted soon.

**Random**

First, let me say that I am so heart-broken about this Caylee case. I have been following it closely (short of watching Nancy Grace) and I just feel so bad about what happened to her. Today they identified her remains, and I feel relieved that they found her finally, but I can't help wondering what her last moments were like. If it was indeed her mother who did this, then a life sentence does not do her justice. I don't see how anyone could hurt a young child, especially a parent - especially a MOTHER.

Ava is getting her big girl bed tonight! I am so excited. Brent got the room set up this morning while Ava and I were at school and work, so when we get home today we will get to see it. Ava doesn't know about it yet, though we have dropped many hints. Look for pictures coming soon.

Is all your Christmas shopping done? I only have a few small things to get. My budget went out the window a long time ago, but I am thankful for my job that gave me a very nice Christmas bonus today. That is always a good thing! It will be another warm Christmas this year - I think the high will be in the upper 70's. It's nice if you are here on vacation, but I would love a cold Christmas. Nothing like celebrating xmas in shorts and T-shirts with the AC on.

I am really excited for Ava's birthday in January - we are taking her to Disney World! We will be there for 2 days and will probably just hit the Magic Kingdom and Downtown Disney. Some of my favorite memories are at Magic Kingdom. I haven't been in years, and I know Ava will love it since she's into all the princess stuff now.

Ava and one of the nannies - Carol. They did a Thanksgiving thing and Carol dressed up like a pilgrim.


The other nanny - Leah - also as a pilgrim


Ava and Max doing some baking. Through the french doors there is my "office."

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving will be a pretty low key event this year. Just Brent's parents and my Mom over at the house, possibly a couple of friends. I am sad that Ava probably won't get to experience the kind of Thanksgivings that I grew up with. My stepdad's side of the family would all meet up at my Grandma's house in North Carolina. In the boonies really. She lives in a very small town, on top of a mountain in a modest but nice house that my Dad and Grandpa built. We would drive up, usually at night, and my Dad would make a bed for us in the back of his pick up, which had a top on it. I wouldn't really sleep though. I liked driving right past Atlanta and seeing all the lights of the buildings. We would arrive very early in the moring, an it would be cold. We would set up camp in her basement. The days would be spent doing nothing but playing cards or walking around outside in the leaves. Sometimes we would take a drive to Cherokee and go into all the cheesy Christmas shops. Thanksgiving day would be a mess of cooking, lots of loud talking, and laying around. There would be many pies, and eating left overs for days. Every few years it might snow flurry for a little bit. Never enough to really stick, but enough to build a very tiny snowman on the hood of a car.

The family has grown and spread out even more than before. I was always the oldest, but now even my youngest cousins are 20 years old. My parent's would still usually make the trip, but not this year. There was a bad drought and water is scarce up there. My mom is busy and my Dad left tonight to Arizona to go on a 22 day rafting trip down the Colorado River. I am pretty jealous of that, but come day 10 he'll probably be missing a warm bed and Florida weather.

So, it's just our little family, at our little house. And it will be fine, because Ava will still have a blast, and maybe when she's 30 she'll reminisce about it.

One thing I am really excited for is Ava's Christmas present from my Dad and stepmom in NJ. They got her a bedroom set. I have mixed feelings about moving her out of the crib, but it is time. I think it will be a smooth transition and I can't wait to decorate her room. My little girl without a crib! So weird. It's kind of a milestone.

I'll have lots of pictures up soon. We did a little photo shoot at a museum and I got some great pics of her. We were hoping for a nice family shot, but we are not so good at those. It seems that one of us is always looking in a different direction and Brent smiles like Chandler in pictures. If you're a "Friends" fan you'll know what I'm talkin bout.

$2.07

That's the price of gas here. How crazy is that?? I put $30 in my Explorer and nearly filled it up.

Ava is doing good. People who haven't seen her in a few months are telling me how tall she looks and how she is losing her baby face. I would agree, she is getting tall and thin - just like her Dad. She has a nice big scabby scrape on her chin right now, courtesy of Max. He pushed her off a slide and she fell into some recycling bins and got scraped up good. Of course, her school pictures were taken this week too, so it'll be interesting to see how those come out. She looks like a bruiser.

For Christmas, Ava wants "a pink soccer ball and Lightning stuff." Lightning stuff means "Cars" the movie stuff. She LOVES Cars. I have it on good authority that Santa will be bringing her a big girl bicycle and probably a new bedroom set too! I don't want to overload her on xmas, since her birthday is in January.

Happy Obama Halloween!

I managed to avoid every bit of election news all day, until about 10 minutes ago. I did not want to hear all of the news network spewing their crap about who was going to win, before the votes were tallied. I spent this evening watching Rocky II for the first time, and then Brent turned on the news, just in time to see the results from California. I got to see Obama win the election on FOX News! That is ironic. Brent and I both had goose bumps. Of course, we both voted for Obama. It was a hard decision for me initially, but once I made it, I believed it to be the best one. I think we should all just work together and hope for the best! I hope that the crazies out there don't do anything stupid - for the nation's sake.
I talk to insurance agents from all over the south for my job, and today I talked to a (white) guy from Mississippi. I was telling him about a meeting being rescheduled from 7:30am to 9:30am, and his response was "Much better - white people hours." I laughed kind of nervously and he said "I probably shouldn't say that. You're not black are you?" I said no, and he said "well it doesn't matter; after today we're probably gonna be a black nation." I reminded him that Obama is bi-racial, and he said "well, he's bi-something." Ummmm....okay.

Okay, on to Halloween! We had a great time going trick or treating with my parents. Ava was Tinkerbell, and she looked beautiful. She was such a trooper - we must've gone to 20 - 25 houses. She walked the entire time. She loved wearing the costume, and has put it on every day since.

Cutie Pie

Tonight when we were putting Ava to bed, she put her arms around both me and Brent, pulled us close to her face and said, "I love you guys." I melted.

After a couple of bad days last week, she has been really good. I don't know what happened last Thursday and Friday, but she threw a couple of horrible tantrums at work. I was kind of freaked out about it, and even canceled some plans last weekend to stay home with her. It isn't like her to be that bad. But since then she has been good. She is such a little adult that sometimes I have to remind myself that she's 2 - tantrums are bound to happen sometimes.

This weekend we are going to Busch Gardens, and next weekend we are going to a pumpkin festival at a farm. Ava already picked out her Halloween costume - she's going to be Tinkerbell. Ever since we saw Disney on Ice, she has been talking about Tinkerbell.

Merry Christmas

Ava has started using "Alissa" when talking on the phone. She'll say "Hi, it's just Alissa. Hi Alissa." When I first heard her do it I thought it was pretty funny. Obviously she has overheard me on the phone. In the car the other day, I asked her what my name was. She said "Dominick."

She loves talking on the phone. She will talk to anyone, and sometimes to no one. Nowadays she talks mostly about Santa Claus and Christmas trees. She will sing songs too. She knows a bunch, and her favorites now are "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." For not even 2 years old, she amazes me with her ability to learn.

Ava also loves fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars. She can spot them all the time. When we're at home and we hear a distant siren, her eyes light up.

Christmas for her should be really fun this year. She sat on Santa's lap and did such a great job. We even got a decent picture. I will scan it soon and post it. Last year she was only 11 months old and cried her eyes out. That was also the night of the ear-piercing torture. Anyway, she is very aware of "Santa," and it looks like she will make out like a bandit. There is one big gift on the way which I am very excited about, but I'll post about it when it actually gets here. And no, it's not a baby brother or sister.

It's very late, so I'll pot pictures another night. Hope everyone has a great holiday!

Gracias!

I don't know why I chose that as a title, it just popped into my head. I have been bad about posting, and I think I might be even worse now. This past weekend I bought this this game and I am hooked. Yvie - I suggest you buy this game for Dad for Christmas. You might not see him for a while. One of the best things about it is that I have finally found a game where I kick butt and Brent stinks.

Things have been pretty quiet around here lately. Ava has been so chatty lately. She talks to us, talks to other people, to herself, whatever. She likes to talk on the phone, she sings songs to herself, and she makes up stuff too. Now she talks about Santa Claus and Christmas trees. This morning she was upset when I told her that we had to turn the tree off. In the car I told her that we had to turn it off or it might catch on fire. She went on and on almost the whole car ride about fire and fire trucks. She loves fire trucks.

Work is busy, and I am in a wedding in a couple of weeks and I have a bunch of appointments for it. Ava will probably have to spend the weekend with her Grandma, just due to the rehearsal dinner and the wedding itself. I feel so bad - I haven't even begun Christmas shopping yet. I figure we can have Ava done in one shopping trip. We can't go nuts with presents for a couple of reasons - money, of course, and space. Our house is so crowded as it is, I don't know where we would put more toys. I really want to get her a kitchen set though. We just might have to put it on the patio.

Hope everyone has a good week. I am already looking forward to the weekend!

Moments...

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a very nice day at Brent's brother & sister-in-law's. Florida Thanksgiving is interesting, because the weather is so warm. We ate Thanksgiving dinner out on the deck by the pool.

I need to start keeping a daily journal of the things Ava says lately. Everyday she says something that suprises me or makes me say "where did she learn that?"

Today she said "It's kinda hot" when we got in the truck.

She had her first real phone conversation today too. Normally as soon as I put a phone up to her she gets really quiet and won't talk. Today I was talking to Brent on my cell and she wanted it. I gave it to her and she chatted away. She was answering his questions, she told him she had fun with Grandma, said something about Grandpa, and told him we were going to the store. It lasted a couple of minutes, and when I took the phone back she wanted to talk again. It was so cute.

I can't remember all of the things she says, which is why I want to write them down. It's so nice to be able to ask her a question and have her respond in the correct way. I ask her if she's hungry, and she'll say "no." I ask her if she has a poopy diaper and she says "no."

Yesterday morning she was sitting on the couch hanging out with Daddy, and all of a sudden she said, "bye, I'm gonna go brush my teeth." And she went right in the bathroom.

She calls our cat "Wuwa" for Lula, and she tells her "kitty - get out of the way!" or "Stay inside, kitty."





Our Thanksgiving setting: