Easter 2010

We had a very low key Easter this year. We got Ava dressed in her pretty Easter dress, given to her by Gigi, went to church, and then Ava went on her very first easter egg hunt with Macy. Last Easter she was just a wee little thing so we have been looking forward to watching her carry around her easter basket and look for eggs for the first time. She looked adorable and we took a ton of pictures. These are some of our favorites. Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

Macy's eggs had dog treats in them

I had to hand Ava her eggs at first

Ava's eggs had snacks in them

Love this one

and this one

Macy looking for bunnies

ok, i love this one too (pretty much all pictures of these two together)

Ava saw this little worm on the sidewalk

She dropped her flower and picked up the worm. Gross!

After the egg hunt we went over to my aunt Kassandra's house where some of the family
was gathered

We dyed easter eggs and had an egg decorating contest

Aunt Konnie's egg (my personal favorite)

Mikey's Dallas Cowboy egg and my sparkly egg

Cheering on the dads

This morning Vaune and I, along with Ava and Luke, headed to downtown Dallas to cheer on Mikey and Ryan as they crossed the finish line in the bike race they were participating in. Cycling has become a new hobby of Mikey's and it turns out Ryan enjoys it as well. Mikey is riding in the MS15o from Houston to Austin in a couple of weeks so this was a good warm up to it. We waited awhile for the guys to finish, slowpokes ;), but Ava and Luke did great.

It was great to see the guys after the race but the best moment of all happened when we were driving there. We had Ava and Luke's carseat right next to each other in the backseat and at one point when I turned around to check on them this is what I saw...

I'm telling you, they really love each other. Vaune and I will save this one for the slideshow at thier rehearsal dinner. ;)

"Hey, I think I see them coming"

Vaune and Luke

Mr. Cyclist in his gear

Pointing again

The Family

Playdates

This week Ava and I had two fun playdates with our friends. On Tuesday my friends from college, three of which have newborns born within a week of each other, came over to the house for our first playdate together. Ava, Sally, and Madison were the big girls of the playdate and showed the new mommies all that they have to look forward to. The girls were all over the place and pulling out toys and things from all the diaper bags. It's funny how your perspective on parenting changes as your child gets older. I never thought I would be the mom that allows my child to get into things or make a mess but I have quickly realized that there is really no stopping it and the only way to keep her happy at times is just to let her explore. I forgot just how peaceful, quiet, and STILL a newborn is. I loved seeing my college friends as mommies and I look forward to many more playdates with them.

On Thursday, Ava and I headed to Jennifer and Madison's house for a playdate with our original playgroup. We didn't stay too long because I could tell Ava was getting really sleepy and she just seemed a bit off. When we got home she felt warm to me so I took her temperature and she had a small fever. Since she has never had a fever before ever I decided to take her in to the doctor to make sure she was ok and didnt have any ear infections or other sicknesses. She also had a red bump on her left thigh that looked like a bug bite and it turns out that the bump and the fever were a delayed reaction to the chicken pox vaccine that she got about 10 days before. (aparently these side effects can show up even after two weeks of getting the shot since it is a live virus). We have had a few rough nights with her not feeling well so I am hoping that the worst is behind us and she gets back to normal again soon.

(the pictures are out of order)

Playdate at Jennifer and Madison's house

Ava, Tyler, Brinley, and Madison

Jennifer had these huge Easter eggs in her yard that we thought were pretty cool

Tyler, Madison, Brinley, Jake, and Ava
(not a single one is smiling or even looking excited about this picture. ava stayed seated just long enough for me to get at least one picture. poor thing was not feeling well at this point)

Playdate with my college girls

(Jennifer and Madison, Lisa and Will, Jennie and Harper, Kel and Nolan, Rikki with Sally and Ava)

Sally tried out Ava's new car

Madison pushing the walker

Kel and Nolan

Will, Harper, and Nolan

The new mommies and their little ones :)

Please Vote for Ava

We recently got pictures taken of Ava and the photographer has a contest at the end of each month for the best picture. Ava is in the running and we would really appreciate your vote! If we win we get a free 16X20 portrait of her! You know from my previous post that I am super cheap so anything free gets me really excited, especially if it is a giant picture of my precious girl in a tutu!!!

Please click here and scroll down to vote for Ava's picture. The polls close on Monday and currently we are in second place (by a lot I am afraid). I think the other people are cheaters. ;) Please pass this on to anyone you know that you think would take the 2 seconds it takes to vote. I really really appreciate it!

(So sorry if you have already recieved an email or seen my facebook message about this. I wanna win!)

Who needs the zoo...

when you can go to Petland for FREE!!! Call me cheap but Ava had a blast!! She got to see some of her favorite animals free of charge and we only had to drive 2 minutes to get there! That's my kind of outing. It was so cute to see her face light up when we saw all the animals. She went right up to each cage and pointed to all the animals. People in the store thought I was nuts taking pictures of her but I didn't care.

We first saw the birds. The lady that worked in the store even put one of the huge birds on her shoulder for Ava to pet. (didn't get a picture of that because I was so worried it was going to peck at her)

and then we saw lots of colorful fish

This was what she got most excited about but the bunnies were sleeping in thier little shelter thing so she couldn't get a good look. Guess we'll have to go back!

It breaks my heart seeing these dogs like this. Ava and I wanted to take them all home with us.

I am on the hunt for another free place to take Ava! The library's always great and I hear our church's kid tubes/playarea is always open so we will try that out once she is old enough. If anyone has other suggestions let me know! :)

12 month stats and weaning

I forgot to post Ava's 12 month stats so here they are.

Length: 29 3/4 inches long (75%)

Weight: 18 lbs. 13 1/2 ounces (10-25%) Dr. Pam wasn't worried about this.

Head size: 18 1/4 inches (75-90%)

She got three shots while we there but did fine with them. Dr. Pam said she is doing amazing and that although she is 12 months she acts like she is 15 months. I believe it!! No temper tantrums or anything like that yet but she sure is all over the place, communicating with us more and more through signing and pointing, and eating like a champ!


This past Tuesday Ava and I started the weaning process. I say we because this is definitely a team effort and something that her and I are both somewhat sad to be saying goodbye to. As with everything else she has picked up on it pretty quickly and I am soo proud of her! We dropped the second feeding of the day first (11 o'clock) and gave it about 4 days before we dropped the third (3 o'clock). At first she didn't like the cow's milk, probably because it was ice cold, but by Saturday she was drinking an entire sippy cup full and wanting more. I learned after a few days that she preferred the milk warm. Initially I was nervous that she wasn't going to drink that much in one sitting since she normally just sips water from her sippy cup but when I left Mikey home alone with her during her second feeding she downed the whole thing. From then on out she has done really well. Another thing that I have done that has seemed to help is I position her highchair so that she can see the TV and I put on her favorite DVD. I give her her milk and she zones out while watching it and drinks almost all of her milk while I am getting her food ready. We dropped the third feeding of the day on Saturday too so now I am down to just nursing her in the morning and evening. We are both adjusting very well. I plan on hanging on to at least her last feeding for awhile longer. Not quite ready to be completely done with nursing yet. Very bittersweet time!

First sip of milk

The face says it all. "Mom, what is this?"

Ever since I have started weaning Ava she has been signing that she wants to eat now and she will walk over to highchair and either pat the seat or try and climb in it herself like she is trying to do here. Such a smartie!!! These little moments are so amazing to me. She must be hungrier now that she is not getting a full nursing session and then eating a ton of food afterwards.

Butterflies

My sweet mom and mother in law ordered about two dozen painted lady butterflies to be released at Ava's party (at the park). They arrived in a little box on Friday night but because it was frigid outside and the party was moved indoors we werent able to release them until later. Aparently if it is cooler than 63 degrees outside they wont fly. Don't think they would have done too well in 32 degree weather!

This is what the house looked like on Sunday morning after snow fell on the evening of her party.

Bizarre!!

My Aunt Lisa and Mimi gave Ava a butterfly habitat (and a card to order more catepillars later and watch them change into butterflies) so we put all the butterflies that Kay Kay and Gigi ordered in it so that Ava could enjoy them for a few days till it warmed up for us to release them.

They were hanging from our kitchen chandelier for a few days.

It reminded me of when I taught 2nd grade and we watched the catepillars change into butterflies. I forgot however that they shoot out red stuff, blood maybe???, once they try and fly for the first time. Gross! (and I saw them trying to mate! so appetizing watching all this go on while eating at the kitchen table. )

Going outside to release the butterflies!! Look at my big girl just walking right out the front door like she has been doing this for years!

They didnt all fly out as quickly as I expected.

One of them landed on Ava's hand!

And two landed on Dad's shirt

(Macy move your big head!)

There wasn't the audience we were expecting at the butterfly release but it was a fun family activity. Thanks Kay Kay and Gigi!