Steeler's Babe and more...

Ava is changing so much every day, its hard to keep the blog updated. So here is a little recap of our past couple of weeks.

A little over a week ago was a "holy" day in Pittsburgh, it was Super Bowl Sunday and the Pittsburgh Steelers were in Tampa, FL to take on the Arizona Cardinals. Since moving up to Pittsburgh we've gotten lots of comments about being from WV and being WVU fans, and NOT being Steeler's fans. It wasn't that we weren't Steeler's fans, we just didn't follow the team until about a year ago. So this past fall when the NFL season started we jumped on the bandwagon and started watching the games. A lot of the time we went over to Jon and Val's to hang out, Jon and Nathan watching the game while Val and I chatted about pregnancy and babies while glancing at the tv every few minutes. (Val is pregnant and due 3/21)

Since the Steeler's were in the Super Bowl we decided we should get our act together and get a t-shirt at least so we could blend in with the rest of the crowd. You see, during football season, it is rare to go a Sunday without seeing a massive sea of Black and Gold at church.... yep, AT CHURCH!!! It was a bit of a shock the first Sunday of the season when we were a part of the few who didn't wear black and gold. So we went out and got our t-shirts early in the week and then on Sunday headed over to Jon & Val's with some snacks. Oh, and of course we had to dress Ava up. I looked around for some baby attire, but wasn't willing to pay the high prices for something she would only wear once, so we improvised.

Our Steeler's Babe

Ava was hilarious during the game. She was sitting on my lap, yelling, and I mean YELLING at the tv. The Steeler's would make a play and she would talk and yell, while waving her arms, staring right at the tv. All the excitement must have worn her out, she passed out during the half time show.



This is Tico, Ava's buddy; Jon & Val's dog. Tico has always loved Ava from the moment we brought her over. He is quite protective and gets very upset when Ava cries. They were just saying "hello" for the millionth time.

Jon felt it was his duty to introduce Ava to the "Terrible Towel" Ava thought it was something to chew on ;o)

Jon telling Ava the Steeler's were #1 after they won

We had a great time during the Super Bowl and can't wait until next season.... I guess you'd say we're now Steeler's Fans.

Ava is doing so many things these days. She absolutely LOVES her exersaucer, and I must admit I love it too. It gives me a chance to do a few things, even if that is just running to get a drink or going to the bathroom.

can you see that she is almost standing flat footed? And we've already raised the height once!

Ava is still a good eater, although we've tried applesauce and bananas, and she wasn't really a fan. She does like her cereal though, and Daddy has even gotten the chance to feed her some. I feel like Ava is so big, now when you give her a bottle she gets so excited and opens her mouth before you're done making it and the minute you give it to her...

she tries to hold it like a big girl.

Ava relaxing with Daddy

Its been a couple of weeks, but Ava has gotten her first two teeth. I keep trying to take a picture of them, but everytime I get the camera ready, Ava gets distracted by the "red-eye reduction" light. Silly Girl. So I had to take matters into my own hands so you could see.

she hates it when I do that!

Ava is also learning to sit up by herself. She doesn't have it completely down, but is able to sit for a few seconds on her own. And now that she can roll over, and does it the minute you put her down, she has gotten to where she can push herself up a bit and doesn't fuss as much, that is until she gets tired.

Our little girl is growing up so fast. She is almost 6 months old. Can you believe it? Its just amazing how the time has flown.

We'll try to keep the blog updated as much as possible. But until then, enjoy the pictures we have posted!

Ava looks like...

So I thought I'd have a little fun and see who Ava looks more like...according to a computer that is. We constantly get differing opinions from other as to who they believe Ava looks like. My Mom thinks Ava looks like Nathan, some of our friends say she looks like me. As for us, we are't quite sure, so we'll just have to wait and see I guess.

Who do you think Ava looks like?

Ava looks like...

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

first bites...

On Saturday evening Ava got her first taste of cereal. She did an amazing job and seemed to like it pretty well. We tried to capture a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

the first bite!

full cheeks

all done

By Sunday evening, only her second experience with the cereal, she was eating like a champ. She even started leaning forward towards the spoon and opening her mouth. She was quite hungry and we think she didn't enjoy the fact that it took longer to eat the cereal than it does milk, but she kept eating and ate almost the entire bowl.

Ava's first bites were quite exciting and we're looking forward to trying new foods in the next few months. We'll be sure to post more pictures as our experimenting continues!

When you're smiling, when you're smiling...

...the whole world smiles with you!

Up until recently when we'd take a picture of Ava she'd go from smiling or playing to looking straight at the camera with a blank face. At one point my Mom even asked if Ava smiled much since in all the pictures she was seeing, Ava wasn't smiling. We knew Ava didn't like the red eye reduction light on the camera and so we even tried covering that up some, but it didn't help. Then one day...

Can you say Cheese?

And since then she hasn't stopped smiling at the camera. Its wonderful to be able to capture her smile, she has so much personality and it really shines through when she smiles.





In the past few weeks we've gotten quite a bit of snow, and I thought it was about time that Ava got to see it up close. So we bundled her up and took her out for a few minutes... its been in the single digits here and so we didn't want her outside for long!

all ready to go outside, our pink puff


I think she really looks like Nathan here!


what a personality...."Its cold out here, and I'm not too sure I like this snow stuff"


our smilin' girl

super Ava

(this one is just for fun)

Ava is changing so much every day. She has rolling over down pat, although she hasn't figured out how to get back over on her back once she gets on her stomach. And she finally can raise up some on her stomach so she gets a little more tummy time these days, although it still isn't her favorite thing and she only lasts a couple of minutes. We've been trying to teach her to push herself up a little on her arms, and hopefully she'll get that before too long, that would probably help so she isn't relying so much on her back to lift her up.

Ava is also laughing outloud now and it is the sweetest thing we've ever heard. She did it one morning for me and I tried and tried to get her to do it again for Nathan that evening, but she wasn't ready. But by that weekend she was laughing for Nathan more easily than she does for me....apparently he is funnier. Last Sunday Nathan stayed home with Ava while I was out at a meeting and when I came home he had a video for me, it was of Ava hysterically laughing while he tickled her. I'd post it but I know he'd kill me, so we'll try to get another one and I'll get it up soon.

I hope you enjoy the pictures of our smilin' girl. When she smiles, its contagious, and reminds me of the song "when you're smiling." So remember:

"When your smiling, when your smiling, the whole world smiles with you..."

Happy 2009...

I completely forgot to upload some pictures from New Years, so here is our 2nd blog for the day. And can I say, I hate when Blogger won't let you fix pictures. The first two pictures here are half the size of the rest...oh well. Guess thats just the perfectionist coming out in me (you don't see that side of me very often)

On New Years Eve we went over to Andrea & Nate's house to hang out with friends and to ring in 2009. They graciously opened there house to about 9 people (including Ava) and we all had such a wonderful time. I got to play some Mario while Nathan and quite a few of the others played Rock Band for hours on end. We also played some Catch Phrase and had lots of things to snack on... Heather made wonderful chocolate chip pancakes for us, what a treat! Meanwhile, Ava slept soundly upstairs in her pack n' play, and had no clue what fun she was missing.

We stayed until almost 1am and decided it was time to go home, we had about a half hour drive home, and it had been snowing the entire time we were there. Good thing the drive was mainly turnpike. When we went up to get Ava you would have thought we were on a SWAT mission. Andrea came up to help and she really made things go a lot quicker. I picked up the sleeping little one and passed her off to Andrea, then proceeded to help Nathan put away the pack n' play as quickly as possible, then we put Ava in her carrier and were off. Ava slept all the way home and didn't even fuss when I put her in bed.

So far 2009 has been wonderful, although a little busy. Nathan started class today, he is taking a a course in computer architecture, and we're both hoping it turns out to be just what he was looking for. This past Sunday Nathan started his rotation at church working with the computer during the service, and Ava went to the nursery for the 3rd time. Amazingly she has done pretty well so far, except when we were in Charleston and she screamed for 45 minutes because she was tired. It only took a second for her to fall asleep as soon as I got to her.

Ava had a doctor's appt. on Friday morning before we got on the road and our little girl sure is growing. She now weighs 14lbs - 9oz (75th percentile), which is 8lbs heavier than when she was born. And although that might seem heavy (everyone says she is sooo heavy....) she is 25-3/4" long (I think its actually 26" she wasn't stretched out all the way) which is the 91st percentile. Our little girl is going to be tall like her Daddy. Ava is starting to roll over and is also teething at the moment which has made for some fussy spells, but she is such a joy and we are looking forward to what 2009 has in store for her and us.

a tiny Nathan and Sarah

Sarah & Andrea - our hostess

our little present - her shirt says "Mommy & Daddy's best present ever!"

Oh how true.

Ava and Jon

Jon is getting his own little one in just a few short months

the girls!

Andrea, Val, & Sarah

all the girls!

Sarah & Ava, Andrea, Heather, & Val

back: Nate, Corey, Jon, Rick, Nathan

front: Heather, Andrea, Sarah, & Val

Happy New Year!

recap...

wow, its been pretty busy around here the past couple of weeks. We've been doing lots of traveling and visiting with family.

We had a very nice Christmas here at home and then headed out on Friday morning to see Nathan's parents. After a nice visit with them we continued south to Charleston. Waiting there for us was my Step-brother Jeremy and my Grandmother Virginia Ann, as well as Grandmommy & PawPaw (Mom & Roger). We had a wonderful time visiting with them and got to get outside and enjoy the amazing 70 degree weather.

We were glad to finally get home after being gone for a few days and we definitely came home with more than what we left with. Ava still has toys in Charleston that my Mom has to bring up because we couldn't fit them in our car.

its a tradition, my Mom put bows on my head too!

lots of traveling. Surprisingly Ava didn't mind her sunnies

After a bath with Great Grandma Virginia Ann

Four Generations

(my Mom is wearing shorts! It was 70 some degrees outside and beautiful)

relaxing.... my child loves TV.

This wasn't staged, I had the remote laying on the arm of the chair and Ava grabbed it.

Then this past weekend we went to Bridgeport on Friday to see my Dad and his family and then on Saturday morning, after watching my brother's basketball game, we headed to Philippi to see my Grandparents and the rest of the family. It was so good to see everyone, we don't get to see them enough, and of course Ava got some wonderful presents. Our child has a better wardrobe than either of us do.

Ava and Grampa Fred...aren't those smiles just amazing!

Grampa Fred, aunt Danielle, and uncles Jack & Andrew

Ellis meet Ava! Ellis is Grandma & Grandpa's kitten

this picture was taken moments before Ellis decided he needed a closer look and jumped in the carrier with Ava...scared us all to death!

with her Great Grandparents