I'm Walking...

its official, Ava is walking!

She's been taking steps here and there for a couple of weeks now, and last week finally got up and walked across the room, but she still preferred to crawl since it was faster. But today she has made every attempt to walk everywhere she goes. If she falls, she'll usually just crawl to her destination, but at least she is making progress. Enjoy!

and the tissues.... I think she figures if she tears them up, then I can't wipe her nose! We have another cold... poor baby.

Congratulations...

Congratulations!!!

to our friends David and Sally Ann Mertens

on the birth of their daughter,

Abigail Grace Mertens.

She was born Tuesday, August 4th at 4:48pm and

weighed in at 7lbs 12oz and was 19 inches long.

Congratulations...

I'm a little late, but...

Congratulations!!!

to our friends the Grattons, on the birth of their daughter
Miley Maureen.
She was born on Friday July 31st at 6:26 am
and weighed 8lbs 15oz.

new hair...

This past Saturday we finally went and got haircuts. I've been wanting to change things up a bit, but just wasn't sure what to do since Nathan has wanted me to keep it long. Finally last week at some point, I told Nathan I really hated my hair. His comment? "Cut it! You don't really fix it much anymore anyway." It didn't sound nearly as bad as what you might think. And the truth is, I hadn't fixed it well in a while. Thats probably because
1. I don't have time
2. I stay hot and pulling it in a ponytale is the best option
3. it won't curl anymore
4. I don't need to fix it (unless I'm trying to look nice)
5. most of the time, Ava pulls my hair out of any style I put it in

I could go on...

So anyway, Nathan suggested I return to an old favorite of mine, one he had never seen before. About 7 years ago I decided to cut my hair pretty short. I hadn't ever had my hair that short, but ended up loving it. At that point in time I was blonde, and definitely didn't want to go blonde now, so we figured to add to the change, I'd go a little darker. Besides, I like being a bit darker. (Anyone ever seen pictures from AJ's wedding... my hair was almost black!)

I'm not big on paying lots of money for a haircut, even though when I was living in Morgantown I used to go to Regis for this particular cut. So we all jumped in the car and headed to our normal spot, Supercuts. Ava waited patiently as we both got our cuts, she even danced a little in her stroller to the music... Jason Mraz I believe. And in the end, we were both happy. I even think Ava liked the new cut, she at least enjoyed playing with it.

Oh short hair... I remember why I love you so much!

weekend update...

you call it what?

so we've determined that here in PA, they have some pretty strange words for things. For instance, what do you call those little candies that you put on icecream or cupcakes... sprinkles, right? Not here... here they are called Jimmies. (Like that makes any sense!) They also use other words that we find silly, like, calling rubber bands "gum bands," and saying "yens" for "you all." I do understand where they get calling a toboggan just a "cap," because technically a toboggan is a sled, but those of us from WV are used to that referring to a tight hat you wear in the winter. This past weekend I was reminded of one more name for something that I just don't get. In kindergarten, we called it bean bag toss..... but here,... oh gracious... its called corn holing. Look it up, and you won't find a definition. We honestly find it a little dirty weird sounding, so we'll continue calling it bean bag toss.

Anyway, on Friday Nathan and our friend Jon played in a "bean bag toss" tournament. Val & Hali, and Ava and I went along and enjoyed chatting while the guys waited two rounds until they were able to begin playing (they got two bys, putting them in the 3rd round.) Unfortunately their game was short lived, as they ended up losing to the guys who were going to win it all... and man were those guys good! After that the six of us headed to DQ for a quick treat before heading home.

On Saturday I got to sleep in just a little (if you call 7:30 sleeping in), and then after eating a quick breakfast we headed to the mall. The closest mall to us is about a half hour away, but we needed to exchange the hat I got Nathan for his birthday. Actually, I ordered a white WVU hat to replace a hat that he got paint on when working on our deck. After opening his present, and I had a gut feeling to begin with that this would happen, he decided he'd like to exchange it for either a Steelers or Pirates hat. We sent the WVU hat back and a few days later received his new hat... it didn't fit. I don't know how it would have fit anyone, it stuck up a good 4" off Na's head, and looked ridiculous. So we were headed down to the Lids store to pick something out in person. We were going to make sure his new hat fit perfectly. We ended up coming home with two hats, a WV hat AND a Pirates hat... go figure.

That evening Jon, Val and Hali came over. The boys went and played tennis and the girls headed out for a walk. After a short walk, it was so humid and hot, we came back to the house and sat in the shade outside while Hali had a bottle and Ava crawled around playing with anything she could get her hands on. As a side note, yes it was hot, but we couldn't come inside as Val is allergic to the cats.

Sunday was a long day for us, as I had to be at church by 7:30 since I was singing. After 3 years, I'm finally singing again, and I'm loving it. So Nathan was in charge of getting Ava up, fed, dressed and to church. I think this time went a little better than last time, except for her nap, which apparently only lasted maybe 30 minutes. After church we headed to lunch with our friends as we always do and then over to the boys' softball game. Nathan decided not to play, he hurt his back playing tennis, so instead kept the books. We headed home after the game, hoping for a relaxing evening. Instead we were left with a fussy little girl, who we believe had a tummy ache. The past few days she has been really hard to put down for naps, and its almost impossible to get her to sleep at night... and then she wakes up screaming several times. Hopefully we'll get this remedied soon!

We hope you had a great weekend.

Water Baby...

We finally got a chance to get to the lake, and although the weather wasn't the best, we had a great time. Hopefully we'll get back down there sometime, the lake is one of our favorite places. Right now the cabin is being renovated and its going to be amazing and beautiful when its done, I can't wait to see it. Maybe then we'll be more likely to stay down at the lake.... no more snakes and mice!

We thought we'd share some of the pictures of our Water Baby.... and a few other things.

a rainbow AROUND the sun... taken by Chelsea and her incredible camera

Ava having some lunch before heading down the hill to the lake

Jordan and Derek offered to blow up Ava's floaty... very sweet of them

Ava's first boat ride, she hated the life jacket - it pushed her

little cheeks up so high, but she loved watching

the waves at the back of the boat

getting sleepy

amazingly this happens to all the babies,

and it was incredibly rough on the lake that day

just up from her nap

happy girl having a snack

we finally got to get in the water when the sun came out for a few

minutes. Ava loves to splash in the water and

doesn't care if it goes all over her face.

trying out her floaty car on dry land

and into the water we go!

Ava, wave to Daddy!

Ava LOVES Derek, (sorry Chels)

she'd sit on his lap all day if she could

patriotic girl brushing her teeth

being silly with Daddy

Happy 4th of July

We hope you had a great weekend too!

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!