Then and Now...

The other day I was looking through Ava's hat box (yes, she has a hat box!) and came across this hat my Aunt Mel gave us last year. It said it was a size 2T-5T, but I never once believed that. You might remember this picture I posted:

Then

8 months

I pulled the hat out to see if it would still fit, and it does:

Now

14.5 months

Ava loves shoes, she carries them around all the time, she also loves hats, whether they are her's, Daddy's, or Mommy's

Ava recently learned how to give a real kiss (not mouth wide open) . She had been able to do it for some time, but not until the past few weeks has she really responded when asked for a kiss. Now when asked, she wants to give you multiple kisses... one is NEVER enough!

Kissing Daddy

And these are just some fun pictures we took yesterday after church.... Ava was chasing the cats and trying out her new boots that her Grandma bought her.

Dancin' Girl...

Our girl LOVES to dance. She received a card in the mail this past week, one of the ones that plays music, and she hasn't stoped listening to it. As a side note, this card was picked specifically because it played music. Ava had gotten a mucial birthday card and played it so much she destroyed it.

Had the spoon (her Princess wand) not distracted her, and the fact that I had the camera on her, she would have kept going. Its hard to get a picture of her or a video these days, she'd much rather play with the camera.

And here is a short video of Ava learning to jump. She doesn't have it quite yet, and probably won't for a while, but its incredibly cute to watch her try!

happenings....

I've been waiting for about two weeks now for my cousin to email me a family picture from our Thanksgiving celebration, but it still hasn't happened yet. I had the blog post all ready... it was going to be titled: "Happy Thanksgiving..." and then go on to say, "What? If you don't know our family, then you might think we're crazy. I promise you, we ARE crazy, but we also know that Thanksgiving is at the end of the month. Every year our family gets together to celebrate Thanksgiving early, that way we can celebrate separately on the actual holiday. It's an annual reunion of sorts."

But since I never got the picture, I can't quite go that route. So instead, I thought I'd share the only pictures I do have from that weekend.

Ava in action, running after my Grandma's cat, Ellis.

I've started calling my Grandma "GG, or Gigi"... short for Great Grandma. Ava has a lot of grandparents, and distinguishing between them all isn't easy.

Ava loves water bottles, and thinks every bottle is hers.

These next two are just random pictures. The first was taken after we got home from gymnastics (okay so really, it's just the little ones running around on the mats, but it's free, so we go!)

And the second is of Ava in her favorite play spot, the laundry basket. Can you see the red bump on her head? The one above her right eye (your left). That's where Ava met the hand rail as she and I fell down the stairs... fun trip let me tell you. Luckily, she was fine and her bump went away in an hour or so. I, on the other hand, didn't end up so lucky. I now have a long scar on my right arm... not sure where that came from, and that night I woke up at 2am in horrific pain. I couldn't walk and until I hopped into the bathroom, I would have sworn my right foot was 3x the normal size and totally black and blue. It wasn't so, and now seems to be fine.

This past weekend we made a quick trip down to Morgantown to see Nathan's sister Kristi, who was home from Iraq, and brother Todd, who was home from West Point. After lunch we decided to head up to Cooper's Rock. Kristi had invited two friends and their son to come up for the weekend and they hadn't ever been to Cooper's Rock, and we had wanted to go for the past two years, and just never made it. Unfortunately we went a little late in the year to see the beautiful foliage WV has to offer.

The group heading out to the lookout point

The only picture I got of Kristi... she is taking a picture

of her friend Andrea and her son Sam.

isn't this why bibs were invented?

Ava wanted down so badly, but with the incredibly uneven terrain, she couldn't walk well. (Cooper's Rock is just that... a rock... or a mountain if you want to be more exact.)

This is the only picture I got of Todd and his Girlfriend Jenna.

They are such a sweet couple.

Daddy and Ava

Trying unsuccessfully to get a family picture.

The new friends we made: Mike, Andrea, and baby Sam. Sam was such a cutie, and a real trooper when Ava tried to get him off his own play mat so she could play!

The group heading back to our cars.

Had we gotten to Cooper's Rock a few weeks earlier, all the leaves that are on the ground would have been brilliantly colored and still on the trees. Fall foliage is amazing in WV, we both really miss it.

And this:

was another site we were able to take in at Cooper's Rock. Yes, it was very warm for a November day, it was probably 74 or so... but not warm enough to be sunbathing... if that's what they are doing. Maybe they are sleeping, they didn't move once the entire time we were there.

Our little Mountaineer

mowing the grass with Joshua's bubble mower.

And running away, as we chase her.
Its a game we play all the time.

This past week has been a long week, as Ava hasn't been feeling the best. On Wednesday evening Ava attached herself to Nathan after he got home and wouldn't let go. The following pictures were taken just minutes after she finished her dinner. (Nathan came home while Ava was eating)

He didn't even make it up stairs to change clothes....

I walked out of the room for two minutes and came back

to this:

Ava ended up staying there the rest of the night, only waking to drink some milk and take some tylenol.

She had a long day and was exhausted!

Happy Halloween...

Just a few random pictures to start this post.

this was taken for my friend Lexi. Her daughter has the same froggy pjs and the same sippy and we thought it would be fun to have matching pictures... although her daugther Briella is only about 8 months old.

a random shot of us, we rarely get those

Getting Ava to brush her teeth is a battle we face every night. I don't know if its because she is always cutting teeth and her gums hurt, or what. But she found brushing my teeth quite amusing.

she giggled the entire time

Saturday was not only Halloween, but also Trick or Treat for us. We spent the day getting ready, running errands, cleaning around the house, and making sure Ava had plenty of nap time so she wouldn't be grumpy come evening.

Ava didn't want the breakfast we were having, cinnamon rolls, so she chose to eat her puffs in the laundry basket with her shoes and lambie.

that appaerntly wasn't enough and she needed to crawl into our laundry basket as well...

this is her way of helping with the laundry

Ava got a little pre- Trick or Treat snack, she got a hold of Nathan's sucker

When 5pm arrived, we ate a quick dinner and then got Miss Ava all dressed up. One thing is for sure, she was definitely warm enough, and it was a pretty chilly night. I was planning on dressing up with Ava, Nathan had suggested that I be a farmer and she could be my Lamb, but we discovered my bibs must be packed in my maternity clothes box which is with Andrea. Oh well.

our little Lamb

playing before heading out

We started off without the stoller but two houses in, we decided it was necessary.

Tootsie Rolls.... yummy! She chewed on this piece for a good 10 minutes

Ava loved the candy and actually ate through a sucker wraper (before I could stop her) in order to get to the sucker. She had two, the first sucker she dropped on the street... so she got another one... which she eventually dropped as well.

Ava and her best friend Joshua, our neighbor.

after returning home she was so glad to see Daddy who

stayed behind to pass out candy with Joshua's Daddy, Shayne


checking out the other Trick or Treaters

our attempt to get a quick picture...

I imagine she is thinking "let me goooo Mommy!"

these were some of our last Trick or Treaters... 4 little girls who thought Ava was the cutest thing they had ever seen.... I wish I could have gotten a better picture of Ava's face, her eyes are as wide as saucers looking at all these funny dressed people.

We all had a great time on Halloween, and we hope you did as well.

Update...

Its pointless to say we've been busy the past few weeks... everyone is busy these days. So instead, just a few updates.

On the 15th, Sarah went in and had her implant surgery. The surgery itself took only about 45 minutes, and went smoothly. She was awake for the procedure, and although most people cringe at seeing small screwdrivers, drills, and wrenches being used in their mouth, these things don't bother her. She was given some great pain killers, but when they started making her incredibly tired all the time, she opted for Ibuprofen instead. Needless to say, she has had to endure some discomfort, but otherwise has been fine. (That is until Ava accidentally hits her in the face, which happens at least once a day!) Sarah had her one week check up this past Thursday and everything looked great. The stitches should fall out on their own sometime this week. The next move isn't until next month when she'll back in for temporary caps, which she'll have until there is enough money to get the permanent ones.

In other news, Miss Ava is really growing into her personality, and its left us questioning where she came from. :o) Our little angel is quite aggressive as well as a budding Tomboy. She is rough and tumble and will take on any other child, girl or boy. Ava and Joshua (our neighbor and her best friend) run round in the back yard, throwing and kicking balls, falling on top of each other, and pushing each other off the riding toys. Of course they do have their sweet moments when they share cheerios, gold fish, or other snacks. They sure are two of a kind.

The Holiday season is quickly approaching and that always means our life is much busier than normal. This season we have the hope of traveling less or at least combining trips. (so family... if you any of you would like to come up here for a little visit, just let us know!) Having most of our family in WV is a great thing, unfortunately they seem to live at opposite ends of the state which doesn't make it easy. We'll get through it though, we always do.

Halloween is Saturday and Ava's costume is ready. We're planning on walking around just for a bit with Joshua and then heading back to the house to finish passing out candy. (The Dads get stuck with candy duty this year.) Check back next week for pictures.

Have a

Happy & Safe

Halloween

the Debate...

H1N1, its what everyone seems to be talking about. The thing is, everyone is saying something different. This past week the news has been saturated with information.... yet none of it seems to speak to us. If you're old, if you're young, if you're pregnant, a medical profession... etc, you need to get the vaccine. Yet, there are limitations on each of those, and apparently only so many doses available? So many questions, and very few answers.

Last week Ava went in for her second round of the flu vaccine. I also went in and got a flu shot on the same day. We're set for the seasonal flu... but not for the "swine flu." While in the office I asked the doctor about the H1N1 vaccine and what he thought... "do I get my daughter vaccinated?" His answer. "NO!" Really? I just assumed that we'd get it, since Ava is over 6 months and in the category of people who should receive it. The doctor's explanation, he wasn't my doctor or Ava's mind you, was that this vaccine was created back in the 70's and at that time many people had a bad reaction to it. Apparently he isn't having his children vaccinated. I found that quite odd for being a medical professional.

Then this morning on GMA (my only source of news... Pitt news is full of violence I'd rather not see), they were reporting from the CDC in Alanta, GA, giving as much information to people as possible. But still... nothing that really helped me. If I was pregnant, I'd now know that there is a greater risk that I could contract the virus. If I was a teacher or Ava was in school, I'd know that its important since I'd/she'd be around kids all day. But neither of those are the case. In fact, the only time we are around others is on Sunday and when we are out and about running errands. But in the back of my mind I have this bit of worry... what happens if Ava is in her class at church and a child (who got the vaccine, but still got a mild version of the virus) is there and infects her? I know, I know, what IFs.

I've always been taught to trust doctors, they should know what is best and have our wellbeing in mind. So I value what they think, and was totally thrown off by the doctor who told me not to get it. This morning I played the family card. I don't like to do it often be cause my Uncle gets calls from non patients all the time, but I figured we're family. Besides, its always nice to talk with my Aunt Susan. I needed Orts advice, and if any doctor would know what was in Ava's best interest, it'd be her own Uncle. Unfortunately, Susan and Ort hadn't spent much time talking about it, other than hearing things about possible outbreaks at my cousin's school. (Don't get sick Morgan!!!) But Susan promised she'd ask and get back to me.

So the debate lingers. To get, or Not to get? It is OUR question. (and OUR decision!)