Happy Birthday, Baby!

Dear Ava,

Today is your first birthday (actually, in 33 minutes it will be exactly 1 year), and I have been thinking about what I would want to tell you on this day. There were so many things, but trying to put it in writing makes it sound cheesy and obvious. I would want to tell you how much Daddy and I love you, but I can't even verbalize just how much that is. I would say that you have changed our lives in so many ways, and other than the lack of sleep, it's been all good. Honestly, I can't even complain about the lack of sleep because you have always slept so well at night, it actually makes other moms jealous. I cannot hug you enough, kiss you enough, or tell you I love you enough to express how much love I feel. I know your Daddy feels the same way, because we talk about it all the time. I would tell you that we will always be here for you, no matter what, but I hope that you will always know that, even if we don't tell you all the time. Unfortunately, I had to take you to get your 1 year shots today. You cried but you handled it really well. We spent the rest of the day with Grandma. She bought you a pink bean bag chair that you love. You can only sit on it in rooms that have carpet because you climb on top and almost tumble off if someone weren't there to catch you. We are having a little family party for you this Sunday at our house, complete with party hats.

I figured that when you get older you might like to know how you came into this world - with some parts censored, of course. I have been asked if you were "planned," and the answer is YES, 100% planned. Your Dad and I had said that we would like to be married for a year before we had a baby, and I also wanted to be finished with school. It couldn't have worked out more perfectly. I graduated college on May 9, 2005, and little did I know that you were there accepting my diploma with me. Our 1 year wedding anniversary was May 16, 2005. To celebrate, we spent the weekend in Orlando to go to Disney World. On the morning of May 14th, in a Radisson Hotel room, I took a pregnancy test. The line was very faint, so I took it to Brent to show him, and he confirmed that there was indeed a line. We went to the Magic Kingdom that day, and as the slogan goes, it truly was the happiest place on earth for us. Unfortunately, I did have to skip my favorite rides, Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain.

My pregnancy was a good one. I was extremely paranoid, especially in the beginning, but you were healthy in every way. I remember the first time I heard your heart beat. Your daddy came to every doctor's appointment with me, but he had to miss this one because our air conditioner broke, and it was July and we had to get it fixed. It sounds cliche, but it was amazing to hear your little heart beating so fast. That was the day it sunk in for me that I was really carrying something in there! I couldn't wait to "look pregnant" and get the big belly, but I guess I should've been careful what I wished for, because I got huge. HUGE. I won't say how heavy I was exactly, but I think huge does it justice. My feet swelled, my face and hands swelled, but I was still happy. I loved feeling you moving, I loved rubbing my big-but-still-nice belly, and I loved thinking about the day you would be born, whatever day that might be. You were due January 18th, and I started having Braxton-Hicks contractions a little before that. They didn't hurt, and I didn't even know they were happening until I went to the doctor's office and they hooked me up to the monitors. I started thinking, "any day now!" And it just wasn't happening. They scheduled me to be induced, but I didn't want to be induced. I wanted you to come naturally, when you were ready. However, on Friday, January 20th, I had a doctor's appointment and when she did an ultrasound it showed that my amniotic fluid was low. That was a bit concerning, so she told me to drink as much water as I could over the weekend, and come back on Monday. When I went back in on Monday with your Dad, it was still low, and Dr. Martin said we could head to the hospital right then to be induced, or I could be put on bed rest until Wednesday to see if I went in to labor naturally. Otherwise I would have no choice but to be induced. It was a hard decision, but after thinking about it for a couple of hours we decided to be induced that day. I had been driving around with my packed suitcase in my car for a couple of weeks, so we were ready to go. We got to the hospital around 5:00pm. They put me in bed and hooked me up to the IV. That was the worst! I started crying as soon as they did that because I HATE needles and did not want to have an IV. Then to make matters worse, I found out that it would be a midwife handling the delivery and not my doctor, and that made me even more upset. At one point, we were reconsidering being induced that day and thought about leaving, but I was not about to go through the IV thing twice. Plus, the doctor and nurse just felt it was best to get you out due to the low fluid. The midwife attempted to break my water, but I didn't seem to be dilated enough, so she had a hard time. Instead they were going to keep me in overnight and start me on Pitocin early the next morning. Well, apparently the midwife broke my water more than she thought she did because it kicked me into labor almost immediately. Aunt Nicole met us at the hospital shortly after all this happened, and my first words to her were something like "this sucks." Remember, I am censoring this. The nurses didn't seem to have any sense of urgency about my labor, they were still expecting that the action wouldn't happen until the next morning. For me, the pain just kept getting worse and worse. I had made it clear that I wanted the epidural, but she kept saying that I wasn't ready yet. Instead, she offered to give me some pain meds in my IV, and I told her no, all I wanted was the epidural. I had read that the epidural was safest for the baby, and it was so common, all the mothers I asked said get the epidural! The second time the nurse asked about the IV pain meds, I was in so much pain I asked her if it would really help. She said it would make me feel drunk, and not do a whole lot for the pain, so again I said no. Finally, the third time she asked, she said she could give me the smallest dose, just to ease the pain a little bit. I was hurting so bad at this point that I agreed. Little did we know that the midwife decided to go ahead and give me the full dosage, and I passed out almost instantly. The nurse wasn't kidding about feeling drunk, I remember it felt like falling over in slow motion. And it did nothing for the pain! I guess it was about 20 minutes later that I started feeling the worst pains ever, and it woke me up. At this point everything is a blur for me. Next thing I know they are telling me to push, and contractions are coming one on top of another. I don't think I opened my eyes once because I was still groggy from the medication, but I know Brent was there helping me push, and I would keep holding my breathe and he would remind me to exhale. He also swears that I said "git er done," but I don't know if I believe that part. It went by so fast, but all of a sudden they were telling me to stop pushing because you were coming out, and then it was over and the pain suddenly subsided. I didn't hear you cry right away, and I started asking everyone "why isn't she crying?" Apparently you were groggy from the medication too, and they had to give you a shot to reverse it. You just wanted to sleep. You were perfectly fine, totally healthy. Both Grandmas came into the room to check you out, and I just remember feeling so relieved, besides being so exhausted I could barely open my eyes. After being assured that you were okay, my next question was where the hell was the epidural?! As it turned out, they were bringing in the cart to give it to me right as I was waking up from my little nap, and by then we missed the opportunity!. I guess since the medication relaxed me it kicked my labor into high gear and I went from being 5cm's to a full 10cm during that time. I was so glad to have your Daddy and Aunt Nicole there with me, it would have been so much harder without them.You were born at 11:11pm, about 6 hours after I checked into the hospital. All in all, a very quick delivery. Thinking about it now, I actually wish I could go back and experience it all over again.

Your first few minutes:

First day home:

1 month old:

2 months:

3 months:

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

Today, 1 year old:

We love you Ava! We want to make every birthday special, especially this one. Happy Birthday!

Please excuse our dust!

It's been a while, hasn't it? We've been busy tearing up our kitchen, and the place is a mess! Before and after pictures will be posted soon, as soon as we clean it up. Living without a kitchen sink stinks!
Ava will be 1 in a couple of weeks and I'm so excited. We are having a small party here at the house, which is why we are trying to get everything with the kitchen situated. She's still not walking, but she is close. Everyday she teases us, making us think it's the day. She's the puppetmaster, pulling our strings. We are having an issue with temper tantrums, and I hope it's jut a passing phase because I am going NUTS!
Please stay tuned, we'll be back soon!

Happy New Year

Yes, it's New Year's Eve, and I'm sitting at home on the computer. We are not really the party type, but we had a long day today. Ava spent the day at her Grandma & Grandpa's house while Brent and I went to a Buc's game up in Tampa. This was my first pro-football game, so it was really exciting for me. The Buc's ended up losing to Seattle, as expected, but it was still fun. But I am tired after sitting in the sun at the stadium all afternoon, and it was pretty hot out. Now Ava is in bed, and fireworks are going off all around our neighborhood. Brent is at his brother's house but he promised to be home by midnight. Anyway, I hope everyone has a really good and safe New Year.
Our little family had a great Christmas. Actually, the Buc's game was my Christmas present from Brent. Ava opened her presents on Christmas morning, or more accurately - Ava pulled some pieces of wrapping paper off of a couple of boxes, got distracted with one of the toys, lost interest in opening things, and I opened the rest of the present. We didn't even wrap some of her presents since we knew she wouldn't be that interested in the unwrapping. Since we celebrated Christmas with Brent's family on Friday night, we just went over to my parent's house later in the afternoon. My family made a big dinner and we hung out there. Ava got so many nice presents and lots of cute outfits. She loves her walker and all of the things that make noise!
Now that Christmas is over it is time to start thinking about Ava's first birthday! I know we are going to have a party at our house, and it will probably just be family. We are remodeling our kitchen the first weekend of January, so that will be all done. I just need to nail down an exact date for the party and figure out what I'm going to do exactly. I can't believe she is 1 already. She is so close to walking. When we hold her hands she walks so good, and she walks holding on to furniture. Lately she gets so close to letting go, but at the last minute she just goes back to crawling. I think it will happen before her birthday. She is saying things now too - she says mama, dada, and bye bye, and she says something that sounds like "duck" and "kitty." She does have a rubber ducky and we do have a kitty so I think she is referring to those things. She eats almost everything that we eat now - she likes vegetables (corn, peas, carrots)and fruit, but she doesn't really like meat. Her favorite thing is cheese and crackers. We are slowly weaning her off the bottle, but it's still tricky. I hope that the bottle will go bye-bye for good within a few months.

Oh Holy $#@!$ Night

Last Tuesday, December 12th was not the best night for Ava. First, we dressed her up and made her wear tights. Then, we put her on the lap of the monster, Santa Claus. Ava did not like him at all. We went with Linda, Bruce and Tara and Matt and their son Nathan. Nathan went first and he did pretty good. He looked scared but didn't cry. Ava was fine until we put her on Santa's lap, and then she instantly broke down in tears. We tried to calm her down, I sang to her, and at one point I even sat on Santa's lap with her, but it was no good. She would stop as soon as we took her off his lap, and start again if we put her back on. So Ava, here is your first official picture with Santa:

Doesn't she look thrilled? Little did she know that the worst was yet to come. I was finally talked into getting Ava's ears pierced, and we figured why not do all the traumatizing in one night, so after Ava saw Santa, she got her ears pierced. I still don't know how I feel about it, but they do look cute. I did not want to be present during the ear piercing, so I walked with them to the place, picked out the earrings, and then Tara and I took off. Brent held her in the chair, poor guy. I won't go in to details, but Ava did scream and I heard her from quite a distance, but she calmed down as soon as they were done. She was fine by the time I walked back. The piercing people did both ears at the same time, so it was over with very quickly. Since then they have not bothered her a bit, and it is done and over with. If she doesn't like them when she's older she can always let them close up. Here is a picture right after the event:

Besides Ava, I have gotten zero Christmas shopping done! I don't know what to get anyone, including Brent. I feel like I should be in the Christmas spirit because of Ava, but I'm not. It has been so hot here, we still have the AC on and I have been so busy I haven't had time to wrap any of Ava's presents. It just feels weird to have Christmas music on when it is so hot outside. One bit of good news is that our new kitchen cabinets are in. They weren't supposed to be in until the beginning of January and I was worried that the kitchen wouldn't be done in time for Ava's birthday party. Hopefully now it will be.
I'm going to bed, so here are a few more pictures of our baby:
Getting ready for the fun

Not having it

Doesn't she look mad at us?

Nah, just tickle her neck, she's fine

Ava with the glow worm that she got at Brent's work party. She loves it!

There was a Santa at Brent's party and we tried it again with no luck. Oh well, maybe next year!

Santa Baby

I don't have much to write about tonight, we've just been doing the same old stuff. I did some Christmas shopping for Ava today. We are only buying her a few things since her birthday is next month so she'll be getting presents then too. Plus she really isn't going to know what's going on anyway. I think she's going to have a pretty good spread of presents at Christmas though. This Tuesday we are going to see Santa at the mall with Brent's parents and probably some friends of ours will bring their son too. I can't wait to see Ava's reaction to sitting on Santa's lap. It's hit or miss with her, she might be fine, she might freak, it all depends on her mood that day. For pictures sake I hope she lets us get at least one good one to make it worth waiting in what I'm sure will be a pretty long line. Also, she might get her ears pierced that night too. I am really on the fence about that. I know a lot of babies get their ears pierced and they are fine and they look really cute. However, I can't help but feel like it's a violation of her body, and maybe it should be her choice when she's older. I also don't want them to be uncomfortable to her when she's sleeping, since they are supposed to keep the earrings in for something like 3 months or they will close up. And why put her through unnecessary pain? I will probably do it, but I told my mom-in-law that she will have to sit with Ava when they do it, I will go for a walk.

In other news, I so don't want to go to work tomorrow.