10 months and more...

It's July already? I usually say by the time my birthday gets here summer is over, and at this rate it will be before we know it. The beginning of July brought not only cooler weather, its in the 60s today, but also flowers. Usually I kill plants, thus the reason we don't have any, but this year I decided to try my hand at gardening, my favorite flowers, Stargazer Lilies. When I came down this morning the first thing Nathan asked was "did you see your flowers?" I ran to the door and there it was, my first bloom!

Isn't it pretty? I can't wait until the others bloom, there are 3-4 buds on each of the other plants. There were originally 4 bulbs, but one was broken when I opened the package... oh well. When the buds started to develop and I had the idea that they were going to live, I started talking about planting some other things next year, maybe some tomatos and peppers... I'll have to ask my friend Ashley about that. She planted quite a few things this year and had great success.

my beautiful Lily and my beautiful girl

Yesterday Ava turned 10 months old. Not only is the summer flying by, but so is this year. I don't know where it has gone. Its so hard to believe that in less than 2 months she will be 1 year old.

Ava is into a lot of things, she is crawling all over the place, pulling up on anything and everything, and cruising along the couches every chance she gets. She has mastered "DaDa" and "MaMa," as well as "ssss" (Ace - our cat) &"BaBa" (bottle). Most of the time if we say something, she'll immediately try to imitate us. We're still working on our sign language, but she hasn't grasped that yet. She loves to play in her pool and swing in our neighbor's swing. Joshua wasn't a huge fan of the swing at first so he let Ava us it. And she has finally gotten use to the grass and doesn't mind it anymore.

Ava is still a big Mommy's girl, but she loves her Daddy and gets incredibly excited when he gets home from work (or any time she seems him.) Last week while we were playing in the pool, Nathan came home, and Ava was determined for him to pick her up... so he did and ended up soaked.

hanging out with Daddy before work

She also loves to take things in and out of boxes, bags, and cabinets. I usually end up putting up DVDs about 5-10 times a day. Ava still has some stranger anxiety, but that will slowly fade over time, especially as she meets new friends. I think Joshua is going to be a great friend. Hopefully once Ava starts walking they can play more. She already tried to give him hugs and hold his hand when they are playing in the pool, its too cute!

helping unload the dishwasher

thinking

on our way to the pool

playing in our "little" pool, we haven't been in our "big" pool yet

lovin' the boats

looking (with our eyes closed) up at Daddy on the deck

big smiles

enjoying Joshua's swing.

Thanks Joshua!